Wiedergeburt

by Brandon Varnell

  When Kari’s face and ears turned red as she tried to explain herself, I chuckled just a little. She pouted at me, her cheeks swelling up like a chipmunk with acorns in its mouth, but I drew her close. Hugging the girl to my chest, I placed my chin on the crown of her head. She smelled of the shampoo and soap I had bought. In response to my actions, Kari wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight as though afraid I would disappear when she let go.

  “I’m glad you feel that way.” I ran a hand through her hair. “I want you to be able to talk to me about anything. Whenever you’re troubled or uncertain, you can come to me, and I’ll listen no matter what it is.”

  Perhaps it was in response to my words, but Kari buried her face even further into my chest as though trying to burrow through me. Her muffled “Thank you” was barely heard.

  I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like this. It felt like hours. However, I was sure only a few minutes had passed. At some point, Kari’s body completely relaxed against me, becoming so slack she would have fallen to the floor had I not been hugging her. I realized from her slow, even breaths that she had fallen asleep.

  Scooping the girl into my arms, I went over to my bed and used my toes to pull back the covers. I decided to leave her clothes on since I didn’t think stripping her was a good idea right now. I set her down, paused for just a moment, and then pulled the covers back. While I was tempted to slip into bed with her, she hadn’t given me permission to do so.

  That night, I decided to take the couch.

  Dyr returned home soon after parting ways with Eryk. The moment she appeared before the Leucht Family gates, she was let into the mansion and directed toward the basement, where she was then locked away.

  Her room could scarcely be called such, as there was nothing inside except a simple cot with a threadbare blanket. Dyr couldn’t help but notice, as she lay on the hard cot and shivered underneath the blanket, that it was nowhere near as warm as when she shared a sleeping bag with Fay. That had been nice.

  So nice.

  She missed them already, those people who had treated her with kindness and warmth even though she was a complete stranger. She missed Eryk. He had treated her well immediately after they met, let her travel with him, fed her, and didn’t get upset even after she’d accidentally eaten some of that Demon Beast Repellent. She wished to return to his side, though she knew that wasn’t possible.

  As she lay there, voices came from the other side.

  “So, you failed to kill Eryk and his party, even after I lent you Dyr,” said a voice she recognized. It was Hagen.

  “Ke ke ke. This was just a trial run,” another voice said. Skygge. She recognized his cackling. “I didn’t expect to be able to kill Eryk this time. I merely wanted to see how Dyr’s abilities worked and whether we could use it to dispose of him in the future.”

  “Hmph. That’s a likely excuse.”

  “Eryk Veiger is powerful, and his companions aren’t weak either. Ke ke. If we wanted to kill him now, it would have required more preparation on our part.”

  “What about that master you keep telling me about? Surely, he can afford to send someone powerful enough to wipe them out. Could you not do that yourself? I thought you were the greatest assassin within your group.”

  “Ke ke ke. I’m not so sure there’s anyone in our group who has the power to kill Eryk Veiger on their own save maybe my master, but my master is currently dealing with other matters that require his attention. That is why I’m looking to see if we can use Dyr’s abilities to do the job for us. And I might be an assassin, but Eryk Veiger’s ability to sense Spiritual Power is rather frightening. Ke ke ke ke. Even if I can hide from him when I’m Shadow Walking, I can’t hide once I step out of the shadows.”

  Dyr bit her lip as she listened to the two as they spoke. She didn’t like where this conversation was going, but she also couldn’t do anything about it. Even if she wanted to warn Eryk and his friends about this, she understood that she wouldn’t be allowed to leave anymore. All she could do was listen.

  “Then what do you propose?” asked Hagen.

  “Ke ke ke. This experiment of mine was rather successful,” Skygge replied. “Even without the ritual, we were able to forcibly release Dyr’s power and attract a Giant Svart. The next time Eryk Veiger travels into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, we will follow him and wait until his guard is lowered, and then we’ll use a larger version of the ritual to attract multiple Demon Beasts. If we can summon several B-Ranks or even an A-Rank Demon Beast, not even Eryk Veiger will be able to escape.”

  “I suppose that is the best I can hope for,” Hagen said after a several second pause. “However, I expect you to finish him off next time. My family has been supporting you and your master for hundreds of years. You wouldn’t have been able to get where you are today without us. I expect you to pay back this debt in full.”

  “Do not worry. Ke ke. My master never forgets to repay his debts.”

  The conversation appeared to be done. Dyr listened to the sound of footsteps as Hagen walked off. Skygge had probably disappeared into a shadow since she couldn’t hear his footsteps.

  As she lay there, legs curled into her chest, Dyr prayed that Eryk and his friends would never travel into the Demon Beast Mountain Range again.

  Chapter 4

  Blood Replenishing Pill

  The first thing we did was head back to our rooms and grab our weapons.

  Well, Erica, Kari, and Tungsten grabbed their weapons. I still didn’t have one myself.

  After everyone was equipped with their respective battle arms, the four of us raced out of the hallway and toward the entrance hall. As we ran across the catwalk inside of the room filled with lava, where the numerous forges were located, we found ourselves being swept along by the many Dweorgs who were also running in the same direction.

  Like us, the Dweorgs were equipped with weapons and armor. Their brilliant armor looked bright as the runes inscribed into the gleaming alloy glowed vibrantly. Similarly, their weapons were also glowing, and I noticed that they, too, had runes inscribed into them. The arrays were complex and not something I could understand just by looking at them. It really made me wonder. Humans had never inscribed runes into their armor and weapons. What would happen if we did?

  The shaking got worse the closer we came to the entrance hall. As we moved up the staircase, a loud rumbling echoed down to us, and the tremors became so violent that I nearly fell back down. If it wasn’t for the Dweorgs behind us, essentially pushing us up, I would have taken a serious spill.

  As we rushed out of the stairwell, we found nearly two dozen Dweorgs standing at the ready, their armor gleaming and their poleaxes held in tightly clenched hands. Erica, Kari, and Tungsten also readied themselves. I did as well, but I also lamented how I still didn’t have a weapon.

  Boom… boom. Boom! BOOM!

  The loud rumbling that echoed around the entrance hall was coming from the currently closed door, which was blocked off by several thick cross bolts running perpendicular and parallel to each other. However, even as I looked at the door, I could see cracks beginning to form on the surface. They rapidly spread, growing larger and more numerous, until, like glass being smashed apart, the door shattered inward.

  Everyone at the front screamed as they shielded themselves from the falling debris. It acted as a powerful diversion for the creatures who rushed through the now broken entrance. Grunts. There were hundreds of Grunts streaming into the hole, carrying weapons of all kinds. Swords. Axes. Hatchets. Spears. They attacked the Dweorgs up front, swinging or thrusting the weapons in their hands with reckless abandon.

  A lot of their attacks glanced off the tough armor the Dweorgs wore. I noticed right away that the attacks didn’t do anything. In fact, whenever a Dweorg was struck, the runes on their armor would glow and repel the attacker’s weapon. It was like those runes had created a reflective shield of energy.

  “DEFEND THE HALL!!” I heard Samraek shout.

 
A deafening roar went up as the Dweorgs defended the hall, attacking the Grunts to keep them from slipping by.

  Kari raced forward. She slipped between a pair of Dweorgs engaged in battle, slitting the throats of the Grunts they were fighting, then twirled her ranseur around and thrust it forward. Her blade pierced the chest of her foe. She lifted the still very much alive Grunt off the ground, then threw him into several of his companions, who had been teaming up on another Dweorg.

  While Kari went off on her own, Erica and Tungsten stood back to back. One swung her claymore around like it weighed less than a feather. Each swing slammed into two or more Grunts, lifting them off their feet and sending them to the ground. Meanwhile, the other hefted his battle axe in a two-handed grip and methodically cut apart the enemies before him. A green glow emitted from his blade, which made me realize his strange movements were creating a blade of wind that coated his weapon and increased its cutting power.

  Realizing that there were far more enemies for me to contend with, I activated the Flash Step, which caused the world around me to blur slightly as I began moving about at extremely high speeds. I quickly appeared before a Grunt attacking a Dweorg. With a shout, I thrust out a fist coated in lightning. My attack was powerful enough to send the creature flying, its insides burnt. I didn’t stick around to see the end result. Using the Flash Step again, I appeared beside another Grunt, leapt into the air, and snapped off a spinning kick. The loud crack of the Grunt’s neck breaking was just barely heard above the din of battle.

  The thick scent of blood hung in the air. Screams of the dying echoed around us. The roar of combat rang so heavily in my ears that I thought they might bleed.

  It was pandemonium.

  As the fight continued, Kari and I eventually met up somewhere in the middle of this blood bath. We relied on each other for support. She swung her ranseur around, releasing precisely timed bursts of golden Spiritual Power that sliced through the bodies of numerous Grunts. Some were cut in half, others lost limbs, and a few had their heads cleanly removed from their shoulders. Meanwhile, I continued unleashing powerful lightning melee attacks that fried the insides of my opponents.

  After the Grunts swept in, several Elites also appeared in the entrance, roaring as they charged into the defensive line. I responded by jumping into the air and swinging my arm forward. A massive crescent wave of lightning leapt from my hand and slammed into the first line of Elites, killing some and paralyzing others. Kari used the Flash Step to appear before the paralyzed Elites and finished them off with precise thrusts and elegant swings.

  It did not take long before the ground became stained with blood. As we fought, several larger Sekbeists burst into the hall. They were absolutely massive, about two or maybe even three times taller than I was. The muscles covering every inch of their bodies rippled as they lashed out with ferocious swings of the axes and hammers in their hands. Several Dweorgs were sent flying, though their armor did a good job of protecting them.

  One Dweorg did try to attack a Beast with a swing of his warhammer, but not only did the attack not do anything, it brought unwanted attention onto him.

  The Beast he attacked roared. It raised its leg and brought it down, crushing the Dweorg beneath him. A bright glow just barely appeared underneath the Beast’s foot as the Dweorg’s armor protected him, but the Beast did not relent, raising its foot and crushing the Dweorg again. Again. Again. The runes’ glow sputtered, faded, and went out.

  And the Dweorg was crushed flat.

  Blood flowed underneath the Beast’s foot.

  “Beasts!” Kari shouted.

  “Let’s take them out before they can do more damage!” I shouted back.

  The two of us used the Flash Step to appear within the midst of the Beasts. There were only three, fortunately.

  Channeling more lightning into my hand, I created a thick blade of condensed lightning as I leapt into the air and thrust my hand out. The Beast noticed me. It narrowed its eyes as, quite suddenly, a swirling nebula of black energy appeared in front of me. My hand slammed into this nebula. I gawked as the lightning blade covering my hand disappeared. It was like this strange, swirling blackness was eating my Spiritual Power.

  With a grimace, I used the Flash Step Version 2: Illusion Step to appear behind the Beast. I coated my hand in lightning once more and sliced into the back of the Beast’s knee. This time, my lightning blade went straight through. Blood gushed from the wound as the Beast roared and fell onto a knee. Now its head was somewhat closer to me. I used this opportunity to create an even larger lightning blade and swung. My blade went through the Sekbeist’s neck, severing its head, which rolled across the floor.

  I turned to look at Kari and found her fighting against the remaining two Beasts. She was doing a great job of keeping them at bay, but she couldn’t attack because she was being double-teamed, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before one of her enemies got lucky.

  Narrowing my eyes, I charged forward to lend her a hand.

  I wasn’t sure how long the fighting lasted, but just as it seemed to be tapering off, the rest of the massive door suddenly exploded and a giant figure marched in. This one reminded me of Zadram. He walked on two legs and had a bulky body densely packed with muscles. Unlike Zadram, however, this one was wearing armor. It was rusted and dull, but the cuirass, gauntlets, and greaves were covered in spikes. Furthermore, he was wielding a sword made of pure darkness like Zadram, but he seemed more talented as he swung it around. There was a certain finesse to his movements that the other one didn’t have.

  “Ah ha ha ha! I’m glad we finally found you little worms!” The Sekbeist grinned, his massive tusks turning the joyous smile into something sinister to match his words. “Now we can annihilate the last bastion of you accursed Dweorgs! All who refuse to bow down to our rule will suffer the pain of a thousand deaths!”

  I would have told this monster that it was impossible for someone to “suffer the pain of a thousand deaths” because people can only die once, which completely rendered the threat ineffective, but I didn’t.

  Using the Flash Step, I appeared underneath the creature. Looking up, I saw the Sekbeist’s fat chin several meters above me. I channeled as much lightning into my fist as I dared, and then jumped into the air and slammed it into the underside of this monster’s jaw. The loud clack as his mouth was forced shut was followed by his head snapping back. The Sekbeist stumbled several steps backward before catching himself. He brought his head back and glared down at me.

  “Who dares to attack the Warlord Urmog?! I will have your—a human?! No! You aren’t human! How did you get here?!”

  I didn’t answer his question as I attacked again. I used the Flash Step to appear behind him, then slammed both lightning-covered fists against the back of his knee. While this creature’s body was strong, all bipedal animals had the same weak points. The back of the knees where the legs bent was one of them.

  The Sekbeist went down with a mighty scream, falling to a knee. I grabbed his metal cuirass and unleashed a powerful torrent of lightning, using the metal as a natural conductor of electricity to increase the damage and fry his body. That was my intent, anyway. I gaped when my lightning did nothing. It skittered against the armor and dispersed as if it couldn’t generate enough power.

  “That won’t work on me, fool!”

  Urmog tried to swat me away like I was a fly, but I saw the attack coming and used the Flash Step to get away. As I landed on the ground, Kari descended on the Sekbeist from above, her ranseur glowing with a bright, golden Spiritual Power that shrouded the tip of her blade like a divine flame. Sadly, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

  “So you can use the light element, can you?” Urmog raised his blade to meet her attack head-on. “Do you think you can defeat me just because you have trace amounts of Alv blood?! Think again!”

  Kari slammed her ranseur into Urmog’s blade of darkness. Light exploded and darkness engulfed. The two colors crackled against each oth
er, each one vying for dominance, warping the air around them, but it soon became apparent that the black Spiritual Power of Urmog was winning. It pushed against the golden light of Kari’s Spiritual Power, and then exploded when it reached her ranseur.

  With a scream, Kari was sent flying backward, her ranseur exploding in her hands as she flew through the air.

  “KARI!”

  I used the Flash Step to appear beneath her. Catching the woman in my arms, I held her tight as my feet slammed into the ground and I skidded backward.

  “Kari! Are you okay?!”

  “M… my hand…” Kari grimaced. I did too when I saw the shape her hand was in. It looked mangled. Her glove was gone, and her flesh was torn to the point where I could see her muscles and bones sticking out. If that was all, it might not have been so bad, but two of her fingers were barely hanging from her hand by tendons that looked close to snapping.

  “Hold on,” I said before raising my head and lifting my voice. “ERICA! TUNGSTEN! I NEED YOU TWO TO BUY ME SOME TIME!”

  “How much time?!” demanded Erica as she cut a Grunt in half with a single swing of her claymore.

  “As much as you can give me!” I shouted back.

  “That’s a tall order!” Tungsten grunted as he blocked a sword swing, pushed the Grunt back, and then split his enemy’s chest open with a downward swing of his battle axe. At that moment, an Elite sent a wave of darkness toward him, but Erica danced in front of the attack and swung her claymore, unleashing a powerful wave of fire that destroyed the latter’s Spiritual Technique, swept over the Elite, and roasted him.

  Despite his complaint, both he and Erica ran toward Urmog as I quickly retreated to the back of the entrance hall. There was no fighting this far out, which was, of course, because the Dweorgs were steadfastly refusing to let the Sekbeists past their first line of defense. I crouched near the stairwell, hidden slightly behind a column, with my left knee raised so Kari could rest her back against it as I held her mangled hand.