Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series

by Apollos Thorne

  I’d quickly observed them to find that all four of them were in the low 40,000s.

  “I’ve been eager for a fight anyways,” Sai said, ignoring what I’d said and placing himself in front of me.

  I stepped forward as Crimson Incubus covered my hand, and grabbed his shoulder. As I was about to force him away, Jale stepped around him and punched me square in the chest. It wasn’t rage glaring back at me, but her unwavering conviction.

  “They’re more than twice your level,” she rebuked. “Don’t overestimate yourself just because you won a little tournament. You’re still not my match. You need our help.”

  Her aura began to rise off of her like slow moving smoke.

  “Even if your master did kill four people at a similar level,” she said lightly. “That was in an enclosed space where it was difficult to run away. This is completely different.”

  She’d already turned away from me to face the incoming Gul intruders.

  “My master didn’t kill them,” I said as my own energy started to intensify.

  Both Sai and Jale snapped their heads back to look at me as they took a step to distance themselves.

  I looked down from the scene and turned back to look at Aeris. Seeing me earlier hadn’t fazed her, nor had killing Mistress Nava’s eight remaining humans, but tears had finally started to flow down her pristine face.

  When she saw me looking at her, she met my eyes and couldn’t look away. Even as Smog covered me and my hidden Artificial Sun rose to face the vampires in the projection, it was as if what else was going on in the room no longer existed. She now knew what I’d hoped to tell her when the time was right, but I never wanted her to learn of Jale like this.

  The scene changed to my time sneaking in to assimilate the Master Ring and Aeris tore herself away—probably as an excuse to not have to look at me any longer. I also turned back.

  It had started when I took the artificial space with me. Then Lord Soroush’s discovery came, and I began to flee as a Primordial Cat. The rest played as before when Lilith had shown what happened to Mistress Nava and my friends.

  The Scorching Sun fell upon the city and the screaming began, but I’d grown tired of the memory driving me to despair. With my jaw clamped shut, I looked up at the image with stoic hardheadedness and my fists clenched tighter than I’d known was possible.

  The reactions of the succubi matriarchs seeped through my distractions. It wasn’t just awe and shock, but veritable fear that stared up at the scene.

  After the projector had stopped playing, there was nothing but silence for a long while.

  The Head Mistress’s voice was soft but carried through the entire room. “Change into your true form.”

  I didn’t know where to place my eyes as all of the Matriarchs studied me. I chose to focus on the entrance to the room where no one was standing. The glow of my human form made it impossible to hide.

  Everyone started speaking at once, but one voice caused all the others to lower their tone. “Solar Mage,” Kya said from where she stood in the second row. “Was that Scorching Sun?”

  The Head Mistress waited for everyone to settle before responding. “It was.”

  As soon as she acknowledged it, the Matriarchs left their seats and began to discuss me in a chaotic huddle.

  Hadassah asked, “Who is he?”

  “His name is Elorion. He arrived here on the same day Aeris did and they are engaged.” Speaking over the noise, she lifted her voice to drown out all others. “He is to be my agent—my general—my champion, and with our Wind Fairy at his side, with a little care on our part, they will accomplish things that we haven’t dare dream in my six centuries as Head Mistress. I propose making him an adopted brother. He doesn’t have the same experience Aeris does with our kind, but she can help him grow accustomed quickly enough.”

  The debate began with emotions flailing. It seemed prejudice against Light Mages wasn’t a vampire-only thing. After a while, Aeris stepped up to stand next to me and even took my hand.

  We stood that way for quite some time without saying a word. Lilith and even Nava were like my sponsors and were slowly persuading them.

  “Why did you leave?” Aeris said after some time. “Jale seemed to really care for you. She was even willing to defend you after she found out you were human.”

  I’d practiced my answer a thousand times but threw that all away and led with honesty. “I admit to having feelings for her, but they’re different than the ones I have for you. I chose you, Aeris. And I choose you again today. That will never change.”

  “Did you ever—”

  “No he did not,” the Head Mistress suddenly said, intercepting our mind-chat. “Nor did he touch the dark elf vampire who offered herself to him.”

  “What?” Aeris replied, too stunned to show her the customary respect.

  “He can explain the rest but know this. His acceptance into the succubi hinges on your relationship, so the least I can do is reassure you of these simple facts. You can rest assured that he didn’t betray you.”

  As creepy as it was, she had full access to my senses the entire time I was away which made her the only person who could fully soothe Aeris’s concerns. It may have been a totally selfish move on her part, but that didn’t lessen the impact it had on Aeris. I owed her.

  Immediately the Wind Sprite hugged my arm to her chest and rested her head on my shoulder.

  “Thank you, Head Mistress,” I whispered through mind-speak.

  “You’re welcome,” she replied without looking at me. “The difficulty will only begin for you when you become one of us. You will need Aeris more than ever, so be sure to do everything you can to keep her close.”

  “I will.”

  For a moment, I almost believed Lilith was truly looking out for us, but then I remembered something Shamash had said before we’d reached the vampire realm: “We are caught in a game in which we don’t know the rules. Hopefully, knowing that will be enough.”

  ***

  After a couple hours of debate, I officially became a Brother of the succubi. I didn’t receive any gifts as Aeris had, but every one of them approached and kissed me on the cheek. I gave the ‘Matriarch, thank you for your care’ response that was expected just as Aeris had, then we were soon following Lilith out. There was talk about us receiving a joint palace, but they debated whether that was appropriate and if we should have individual ones. We didn’t stay there any longer than we had to, and Lilith took us home to Sanctuary.

  Like dropping off her children at their friend’s house, the Head Mistress took us through the array to arrive at the same place we’d left. Everyone was waiting in the dining area and Zorik was back to peak health. I could only see his head in the kitchen appearing as he sped back and forth, but my nose told me that there was a pig roasting. That was all I needed to know.

  Before the Head Mistress left, no one dared to approach even though everyone began to gather.

  “Little brother. Little sister,” Lilith said. “I will give you two weeks to sort out your affairs. Then you’ll return with me and have to acclimate into your new positions.”

  We both thanked her.

  Then the strangest thing yet happened. Mistress Nava approached Aeris, who was one of the few people not much taller than she was, and reached up and kissed her on the forehead. She held out a little glass bottle for Aeris to take. “Sister, this helps attract certain beasts,” she glanced at me, “and men.”

  “Thank you, sister, for your care,” Aeris replied without wavering.

  With hurried steps as if she wanted to get it over with, Mistress Nava approached me. She didn’t look at me as she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. “Brother,” she whispered, then placed something in my hand before scooting away.

  I reached out with a Crimson Incubus hand and grabbed her wrist as she tried turning away. Even her magically flowing red hair stiffened.

  With a flick of my wrist what she handed me disappeared and a
black-gold ring appeared holding a smokey purple stone. I slipped it on her middle finger. It was one of many 100% to Dark Magic rings now in my possession, but I thought of this one because it was designed to look like a wolf was holding the Dark gem in its mouth. Even on her middle finger it was still a little big.

  She stared at the ring unable to move.

  She wasn’t the only one caught off guard. Even Lilith curiously twisted her head to the side. My friends’ reactions were a little more—extravagant.

  “I’m not sure I can forgive you, and I certainly can’t speak for everyone here, but,” I said, drawing out the word, “as long as you never seek to harm another person here, neither will we harm you. More than that, if you will have me as a brother in more than name, then I will be a brother to you. I’m not an Incubus so my definition is likely different than yours, so keep that in mind.”

  It wasn’t just her I was saying it to, but to everyone present. Things had changed and I didn’t know a better way to make that clear. I was thankful, at least in the moment, that everyone was too shocked to voice their opinion.

  I’d like to think that my reason for doing it was to build an unexpected allegiance, but in truth, despite her repeatedly trying to kill us, I found it impossible to be angry at a fifteen-year-old girl. If she hadn’t had the same level of power, then her actions would have gone from deadly to silly tantrums. And if any other young girl were given the same level of power, how many people would die with each fit they threw? As foolish as my thinking was, there was still a half-human girl hidden in there somewhere.

  I took one more glance around the room and looked each of my friends in the face before turning back to Mistress Nava. “Sister, this ring is a token of my promise to you. Your sister Aeris had the idea of helping you find a new pet as a peace offering. When we return in a few weeks, we’ll visit you and discuss it then.”

  When I let go of her wrist, she still didn’t move away, but brought her hand up to examine the ring.

  I saw Aeris watching her with a glimmer in her eye. It seemed I’d finally handled something right.

  Mistress Nava finally moved. She still didn’t look at me but came closer and reached up again to give me a second kiss on the cheek before running toward the Head Mistress. She didn’t stop and plunged into the portal behind her.

  Lilith didn’t say a thing. She left with a smirk plastered across her face.

  Everyone was still standing there speechless.

  I saw the living ruby that was Queen Degima with warm orange cheeks and bright eyes on the front row. Stepping up to her, I retrieved a golden chain necklace with a Fire-gem embedded and hid it in my palm.

  “Young master,” she greeted less mechanically than she had last time I saw her.

  “Queen Degima, it looks like you’re fully recovered…”

  “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “This is for you.” I held out my hand and the 100% Fire Magic enhancement necklace fell into her palm.

  Her face turned bright orange as she grinned. “Thank you.”

  “There’s also this.” I pulled out a magic bag that was filled with Master Fire Orbs. Her complexion grew even brighter.

  Travis of all people stepped up and offered to help her put on the necklace. He’d been with me when I’d found her, so she knew him as well as anyone.

  I found Aeris and I gave her an odd look. She gave me a subtle shrug. We’d both been away too long.

  “It looks like somebody left and came back a rich playboy,” Richard jeered from where he stood off to the side. He’d recovered his chocolate-colored armor.

  “Just because you’re not as pretty doesn’t mean I didn’t get you anything,” I retorted.

  My heartbeat sped as I heard the laughter of all my friends together for the first time in months.

  “Come on,” I called. “Line up. I got stuff for everyone. Ladies first.”

  This was only the first round of gifts that I planned to give them. Jewelry was the easiest way to provide quick buffs, but Russ was going to have his hands full. They all had their individual gear with its own buffs, but no one had something comparable to 100% to their magic of choice. Equipping what I gave them would automatically override their lesser buffs and raise the power of everyone here in an instant. As for the melee specialists, I handed them Neutral Magic gemstones which I still wasn’t sure would work. We’d figure it out.

  Approaching each of the girls in turn, I examined them while I was at it and couldn’t help but to be impressed with their advancement. Not one of them was under level 10,000 and many of them were closer to 11,000. It was as if nothing had changed as Olivia and Audrey gave me a hard time about the look of the rings that I gave them. All of it was in good fun. Clarissa and Jess giddily received theirs and even Lydia looked pleased.

  When it was the guys’ turn, I pushed past Russ and Skyler and slammed my hand down on Travis’s wrist as if I were slapping him in handcuffs. What remained was the bracer I’d bought him. “If you almost die one more time, I’m going to feed you to the pigs.”

  “Dude, what’s wrong with you?” he replied. “Do you want to contaminate our food?”

  The wisecracks began to fly as I turned to Skyler, then Chris and Mel, Trevon and Zorik. Only at the end did I turn to Russ and smack him across the back.

  “I missed you too, man, but ouch,” he said with a chuckle.

  The guys had leveled quite a bit, but it was only a fraction of what the girls had accomplished. Travis was the highest and nearing level 5,000 and the rest were around 3,000. There probably wouldn’t have been as wide a gap between them and the girls, but for the last two weeks they’d practically been locked up. It was a serious problem, but one that could be fixed. Getting everyone to 20,000 would become one of my major priorities in the coming days.

  “Russ, you’re going to need a bigger shop,” I said, holding him by the shoulder. “And the armory needs to be at least ten times bigger.”

  “Uh, what do you mean?”

  “Here, take a look.” I held up my hand and the Master Ring appeared. “Just touch it and will yourself to view it just like your inventory. The armory is in the back.”

  He reluctantly placed his index finger on the top of my ring, treating it as if I were playing a practical joke. After he just stood there looking off into space for more than a minute, everyone realized that it was the Master Ring he was examining.

  When he finally left the space he began shaking his head to himself. “So big. As big as the living quarters.” He hesitated before asking earnestly, “Elorion, what level are you?”

  Pulling up my character sheet, I spun it around and showed him. Everyone bunched around to see.

  “29,000…”

  “How in the world—” Richard begun before cutting himself off. All of them had seen what I had done. “Oh.”

  I didn’t let any of the lingering shadows of emotion show and just smiled back at them. “Lydia. You’re going to need a much larger shop as well.”

  Chris was standing with his arm around her shoulders and was bouncing up and down for her. She smiled shyly.

  “So who’s hungry?” Travis said, changing the subject.

  As they went, Aeris’s hand found mine and pulled me away. We began walking toward our old rooms.

  I heard Travis call out, “Elorion?”

  “Don’t. They need some time,” Olivia said, jumping in front of him.

  “Yeah…”

  ***

  We arrived at Aeris’s doorway. The space inside was smaller than a college dorm room.

  “We’re going to need a bigger room,” I said. In reply to her questioning look, I added, “I got you a new bed.”

  “This one is fine for now.” She entered and walked over to it, then sat down in the corner with her arms wrapped around her legs.

  I followed after her and took a seat next to her, leaning back against the wall.

  We didn’t speak for a couple minutes as we tried to figure out how
to begin. I was the one that broke the silence. “Tell me everything.”

  She blinked away the beginning of tears and began with what happened after I’d been banished.

  The more she spoke, the easier the words came. At first, she’d been hopeful about her time in the succubi city despite her fears. Having monsters to kill without danger was a great relief. But as her talents became known, she learned more about how rare her abilities were. And how effective they were. When she first got the opportunity to kill prisoners, it wasn’t presented as a difficult thing, but a reward.

  She almost hadn’t gone through with it, but because the first prisoner offered to her was a vampire, she justified killing him the same way I had. Then there were other races, like orcs and dark elves. They became easier to justify the more she killed. She said that because she knew they were going to die anyways, it might as well be her getting the experience…

  The first human put before her was a murderer. It wasn’t a succubus he’d murdered, but another human. From that moment on, she no longer wanted to know what they did. In time, she simply walked into the room, sometimes with hundreds of prisoners, and slaughtered them all before leaving a few moments later. It wasn’t just once a day. Sometimes she had twenty visits or more.

  She’d seen how the young succubi around her began to look up to her and decided to take advantage of it. After that, a plan began to form, and she courted the favor of a few select Mistresses. She’d hoped to make it difficult for them to dispose of her and the others if such an event ever happened.

  Sometime during the hours of telling her story, she’d climbed into my arms. My story began soon after that. I healed her many times, but she never showed any signs of growing tired. I continued for the rest of the day and into the night.

  Chapter 46 – Jasmine Arrives

  With Aeris’s hand in mine, we approached slowly when hearing the clattering of hooves. It had only been a day and a half since I’d arrived in Sanctuary, yet Jasmine had already arrived with Shamash at her side. She must have ridden the Embar at a frantic pace to make it in such good time. I knew the lich would have ways to help her cross the mess of a path I’d left with my Primordial Cat Form, but I had no idea how they’d pulled this off.