Eden's Gate: The Scourge: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  “Can I hold it?” I asked.

  Mordok looked down to the stone then back up to me and nodded. He reached out and handed me the shard.

  You've received: Infinite Mana Shard. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Legendary. Weight: 0.2 kg. An energized stone fragment of mysterious origins.

  The stone was cold to the touch, and when it was in my hand, I felt power surge through me like nothing I had ever felt before. My mana bar started blinking, and it was as if something was leaking out from me all over my body, though I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. I felt clear-headed, powerful, and full—full of something, even though I had been puking my guts up while trying to tame blight beetles all day.

  “Does it grant you infinite mana?” I asked.

  “You would think so; you can feel something when you touch it.” He pursed his lips. “Unfortunately, the powerful feeling is as far as it goes for personal effect. Your mana behaves exactly the same whether holding it or not.”

  After inspecting all of its jagged, pointy edges, I handed it back to Mordok. “It feels amazing.”

  “Indeed, it is amazing,” Mordok concurred. “It’s not clear how infinite mana shards work, but they appear to be mana, magic, and energy, all combined into a sort of crystalized form.” He snapped the book shut. “But most of what they say about shards and beasts is just written words spattered across books. There are some scripts that say the ancient beasts appeared out of nowhere as punishment by the gods for insubordination and make no mention of infinite mana stones at all.”

  “If the Old Ones are suppressing the dragons with the infinite mana stone, I’d say your theory is correct,” I said. “It would make some sense…”

  Mordok nodded.

  “So then where do we find another stone?” Rithnar asked.

  “That’s the question, isn’t it?” Mordok said. “Surely, I’m not the only one who has come to this conclusion, so perhaps we can find a stone or two near an ancient beast’s lair… Dragon’s Crest, maybe.”

  “Hah!” I said loudly, shaking my head as I remembered the hell I had endured there. “No chance.”

  “I agree,” Mordok said. “I was just babbling. It would be far too risky, and we don’t have time to travel there.”

  “Then where?” I asked.

  Mordok placed his hands behind his back, looked down, and started pacing. “I once saw an infinite mana shard—or at least something that resembled an infinite mana shard atop Mount Ardorflame.”

  “Mount Ardorflame?” Rithnar asked. “It’s overflowing with lava now… We can’t climb up there.”

  “We wouldn’t have time to climb anyway,” Mordok said. “But I did mark a rune near the summit, outside the area where I saw the shard. If I cast a portal, we three may be able to go there and retrieve the shard—if it’s really a shard, that is.”

  “All three of us?” Rithnar asked.

  Mordok nodded. “A few years ago, when the Omincron was still working, I cleared a yellow-zoned cave where I marked the rune—well almost. I made it to what seemed to be the end, but a powerful gremloyl was guarding the final chamber. I nearly lost my life trying to escape, but I do recall seeing a blue stone, similar to an infinite mana shard resting near the gremloyl’s treasure chest.”

  “A gremloyl?” I asked.

  “Not quite a gargoyle, not quite a gremlin. A stone gremlin of sizeable proportion.” Mordok looked straight, weaved his fingers together and bent them back, cracking them all at once. “I’ve gained a few levels since our last battle, and with the two of you, perhaps we’d stand a chance.”

  Rithnar and I glanced at each other.

  “There’s a possibility the gremloyl lord in the final room has gained some levels as well, so I must warn you both of the danger. But…” He took a deep breath and turned to Rithnar. “I know our chances of defeating it are better than your chances of defeating Ergoth.” He glanced to me. “Are you both willing to take that chance?”

  You’ve received a quest offer: A ‘Grem’ Strategy!

  Mordok believes an infinite mana shard can be found guarded by a formidable gremloyl in Mount Ardorflame. Follow him and help him and defeat the gremloyl lord so the shard may be collected.

  Reward: 17,000 XP

  Do you accept this quest? Accept/Decline

  Rithnar thought about it a moment before snarling and firmly saying, “I’m ready and willing. If we stop the war and I can reunite with my child, fine. I’ll worry about Ergoth later.”

  “Me too,” I said. “I’m tired as hell, but if you let me rest here tonight, I’ll go with you first thing in the morning.”

  Mordok chuckled. “Not tomorrow, Gunnar. We have no time at all to waste; the catapult is nearly loaded. If we’re going to Mount Ardorflame, we leave now.”

  I sighed. I really was tired, and after all the heaving I had done earlier, I was hungry as well. But, in Eden’s Gate, hunger and tiredness was merely an inconvenience and irritation more than anything. It wasn’t going to kill me to stay up another night. “Alright, let’s go.”

  You have accepted the quest: A ‘Grem’ Strategy!

  “I thought you’d say so,” Mordok said with a smile. He pointed toward a rucksack on the ground. “There are health potions and bandages in the bag. Take what you need and wait here while I fetch my runebook and some mandrake root. In a short time, we’ll go.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  2/22/0001

  The mandrake root that Mordok placed on the ground sizzled, and much like the first time I had seen Eanos cast a portal in Linden, a swirl of magic appeared, which quickly turned into a large, sparkly gateway.

  Mordok blinked his eyes and shook his head, as if casting the portal had been taxing, but he quickly recovered. “We must be fast. It’s dangerous to leave the portal open long... there’s nothing stopping someone or something from using it.”

  Mordok was the first to step through the portal, then Rithnar, and I was right behind them.

  My vision flashed to white, then to black, and I felt weightless for a moment before the black in front of me speckled away, and I could finally see again.

  The wind pounded onto us, pushing my robe against me hard, and the smell of coal and ash was in the air—a stronger smell than even the razed area of Edgewood. Speckles of ash left floating in the air stung my eyes, and I placed my arm up to protect them.

  We were standing high atop a ledge of the volcano in the Wastelands, alright. Through the grimy air, I could see the vast expanse below us and numerous torch lights surrounding Morgsgorg and the Mages Hall. In the far, far distance I could even see tiny lights coming from Highcastle.

  A steep, broken slope ran below us and cut off about ten meters away, where lava was pouring over it, making it completely impassable.

  It was hot—very hot.

  “Over there!” Mordok yelled over the wind and the gurgling sound of lava. He pointed to a cave just a few meters ahead on the same ledge. It was shaped like a doorway, and its outline was too perfect to have been formed by natural means.

  We took slow, difficult steps as we walked against the strong air current, but finally found some relief when we passed through the entrance of the cave. Inside, the wind created a low whistle that echoed further down below.

  Mordok turned to us, and his eyes went wide. “I can’t believe I forgot.” He reached in his bag and grabbed two potion bottles with milky liquid inside. “These will grant you two sight in the dark. I’m not sure how you two can see anything.”

  I waved my hand dismissively. “No need. I’ve cast Divine Sight on Rithnar and myself already.”

  Mordok tilted his head to the side. “Did you? That’s quite a useful spell.”

  “I’ll give it to you as well,” I said, raising my hand towards him.

  You have reached level 8 in Divine Magic!

  “Oh, I can see already,” Mordok said. “A Night Sight trait was granted to me years ago when I completed a string of tasks for a dark magus. If yo
u were an orc, I’d brag to you about what I did, but I’m sure you’d find it abhorrent as human.”

  “He’s not a normal human. He’s a Reborn,” Rithnar said.

  Mordok looked to Rithnar, then back to me and started cackling. “Yeah, of course, he’s a Reborn.”

  “He spoke as if he’s a Reborn to other Reborns in the Wastelands,” Rithnar said. “I heard him.”

  Mordok rolled his eyes. “And what did he tell these so-called Reborns?”

  “He told them to leave,” Rithnar said.

  He rolled his eyes again, this time rolling his head for extra exaggeration. “A Reborn telling other Reborns to leave.” He raised his eyebrows. “And now a Reborn is here helping the Scourge. You seem brighter than most orcs, Rithnar, but sometimes you need to think a bit more critically. Forget this Reborn nonsense, and let’s move forward with what we need to do.”

  Rithnar paused, but eventually gave a slight nod.

  I had to hide my smirk after their interaction. Mordok was clearly intelligent—even more intelligent than most humans I had encountered—but it seemed his intellect was getting the best of him. He underestimated Rithnar, so he couldn’t believe such an unlikely story. And Rithnar perhaps underestimated his own cognition to dismiss his declaration so quickly.

  Mordok started into the cave cautiously, and Rithnar and I were right behind him.

  Inside the cave was like an oven, and I was sweating profusely within a minute or so of our journey. The ceiling and walls were jagged and rocky, but the floor abruptly changed from rocky gravel to a flat, stone surface covered in dust and debris. There were cobwebs here and there, and we even passed a few small, human-like bones, but Mordok simply pressed on confidently, ignoring everything as if he knew exactly where we were going.

  “Seems like it’s remained quite clear,” Mordok said when we reached the first large chamber within the cave. The round room, which was three or four times the width of the hallway we first started down, was devoid of any creatures, but there was an open treasure chest, and several tiny, wide, flat skulls and small bones littered on the ground. “There were a number of gremlins in here during my first visit.”

  I poked my head in the open chest, but there was nothing inside.

  There were three other paths leading from the chamber—one straight ahead and one on either side. Mordok headed for the one on the right.

  There was a loud, frightening roar that penetrated the walls, a massive boom, and suddenly everything around us was shaking. Dust fell from the ceiling, and I bent my knees to maintain my balance. The roar repeated, along with several more booms as the room around us continued to rumble.

  “What is that?!” I screamed, “An earthquake?! Is that coming from in here?!”

  “No, it’s the Gilgaroth!” Mordok yelled.

  Eventually, the roar and shaking stopped, and I brushed myself off as I stood back up straight. “That’s the Gilgaroth?”

  “It’s close to here,” Mordok said. “Do you see why it frightens the Scourge?”

  I nodded. “That was pretty terrifying.”

  “A terrifying monster,” Mordok acknowledged. “Let’s move.”

  As we marched down the hallway, several more of the tiny bones littered the ground, and only a minute in, Mordok held up his hand. “Did you hear that?” he asked.

  We remained quiet for several seconds, before I heard a nearly indecipherable whisper saying something.

  “They’re here... Yes, they’re here. Yes, yes.”

  “There’s still gremlins somewhere in here,” Mordok said. “Be on alert.”

  I reached for my staff while Rithnar grabbed his axe.

  “You don’t use a weapon?” I whispered to Mordok.

  Mordok huffed and smirked but didn’t reply.

  The orc mage continued to lead the way until we approached another chamber. He crept up to it slowly, looking down, around, and every direction, waiting for an attack. Though we were all being as quiet as possible, I didn’t hear any more voices.

  He pressed his back against the wall right when he was about to enter the next chamber, and when he was one step from entering, he peeked his head inside and looked up to the ceiling.

  There was a bright flash of light from the roof of the chamber which stung my eyes, so it must have blinded Mordok from his position. He immediately jerked back and shielded his face with his forearm.

  “Kills ‘ems!” a beady but vicious sounding voice spat, and a creature only about a foot and a half tall fell from somewhere above and started running for us with spears—one long and one short—in each of its hands. It had large ears, a flat face with snake eyes, and skin like a lizard. Its arms and legs were skinny, and its teeth were yellow and pointed.

  “Kills!” more voices rang out from inside the chamber, and something yelled, “Grandsss Fireball!’

  From deep within the chamber, I could see a swirl of fire forming into something larger, and within a second, the swirl had turned into a massive orb of fire that was hurtling towards the hallway where we were standing.

  The creature that had fallen from the ceiling jabbed one of its spears into Mordok’s leg then turned and ran for Rithnar and me.

  Mordok grunted loudly, and while I saw the monster coming for us, I was far more concerned about the massive ball of fire that looked like it would vaporize us if it made contact.

  “Get down!” I yelled, hoping that if we got low, we’d somehow be able to avoid the attack.

  Rithnar and I both dropped to a prone position, and I shielded my eyes, preparing for the worst. A second later, I looked up to see that Mordok had created a shield of translucent triangles that puzzled together with electricity in front of us, much like the one he had cast when he found me in the Wastelands. Residual flames were on the outer side of the shield and slowly fading away.

  Further, his shield was blocking ten or so more of the strange gremlins that were on the other side, trying to use their spears to break through, but hurting themselves in the process. One of them took a running start, jumped and stabbed its spear at the shield before getting shocked and thrown back from its electrical energy.

  “Argggh!” Rithnar groaned and squirmed. He was on the ground, but one of the creatures that had gotten ahead of the shield was standing on his back with one of his pokers in his back. It had its other spear raised, about to slam it down.

  I reached my hand up and shot an Arcane Missile at the monster, connecting perfectly and knocking it off of Rithnar.

  Rithnar immediately jumped to his feet, ran to the creature, and grabbed it by the neck, leaving his axe on the ground. He slammed the being on the cave floor, and its eyes went wide. It reached for Rithnar’s arm, and tried scratching the orc with its long, black claws, but Rithnar was too strong. He squeezed the monster’s neck harder and harder before slamming his fist hard into its face. The creature was rocked, but after another punch to the face, and then two more slams against the floor, its head flopped to the side, and its body went limp.

  You have gained 1200 XP!

  I stood to my feet as Rithnar dropped the dead creature, and Mordok kneeled, inspecting the wound he had endured.

  “I’m getting careless,” Mordok coughed. “I shouldn’t have let that happen.”

  Rithnar reached behind him, touched his wound, and looked at the blood on his hands.

  As Mordok started bandaging his wound, I offered to bandage Rithnar, which he accepted. As I awkwardly applied a bandage to his back, I looked to the numerous angry creatures behind Mordok’s shield, some of them still slamming their weapons against it, which was only doing good to shock them and knock them away. I could hear them buzzing, but the magical, electrical noise from the shield muffled whatever they were saying.

  “What are we going to do about them?” I asked.

  “Kill them, of course,” Mordok said matter-of-factly, looking up from his bandaged wound. “The gremlins should be no trouble. I’m worried only about the gremloyls.”


  “Are you sure?” I asked as the bandages finally settled over Rithnar’s wound. “That fire attack looked wicked.”

  You have reached level 7 in First Aid!

  Mordok looked me up and down. “I didn’t get this red belt by accident.”

  Without another word, Mordok’s eyes narrowed, and he held a sideways palm straight out in front of him. Immediately, six basketball-sized orbs of blue, shimmering magic appeared in a circle around his abdomen. The balls started spinning and simultaneously rotating around him quickly. He lowered his hand and turned around, and as he did, the balls began to waver up and down while still revolving, creating an impression of small planets orbiting his body.

  Mordok lowered the shield blocking the gremlins without warning, and as I grabbed my staff, Rithnar scrambled to retrieve his axe.

  “Shields downs! Kills ‘ems!” one of the gremlins shouted.

  Mordok waved his hand in a small circle in front of him, and as he waved it, a blue, sparkling energy formed in front of his hand and grew brighter, until he thrust his palm forward, releasing magic much like a Fireblast or Arcane Missile. Unlike those spells, however, his magic flew forward, and before it landed on anything, exploded into a bright blast of energy that threw all of the nearby gremlins aside.

  The gremlins affected by the blast screamed and dropped their weapons as Mordok marched forward into the chamber.

  I watched in awe as a couple gremlins ran at him from the sides, only to be struck by the spheres that were orbiting him, knocking them back harder than any punch.