by TJ Reynolds
A cheer rose up at that. “Meet me here in the morning if any of you drunks are serious!” I added, then sat back down.
“Nice speech,” Oliver said, looking to his group. “You’re serious, though? Like, could we all join the quest?”
I nodded and said, “Yeah, should be plenty of bad guys for everyone. Your party is something fierce, so you’d be more than welcome.”
It was late when I finally had to pry myself from the crowd and meet up with Tejón. The beast was snoring loud enough to flutter the curtains, a pile of bones scattered about him.
I tossed my arena prizes into my new abyss bag and removed my armor a piece at a time. Relishing in the weightlessness of being dressed only in my normal clothes, I jumped onto my huge bed and closed my eyes. The room swam around me, exhaustion and prolonged excitement making me feel as if my whole body were vibrating. I laughed at myself, already dropping into sleep before I pulled on the covers.
To quickly amend this problem, I dug my way deeper into the folds of the legendary bed. Then a searing pain made my eyes shoot open and I cried out in pain. Reaching down into my pants pocket, I pulled out the stone that Judas had given me.
The red light it produced filling my room with a haunting glow.
10: “Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.”
— Scion of the Endless Poem
HANA
More than a few assurances had to be given to Pachi before she would consent to the course of action and calm down. Guilt tugged at me, but there would be more trying situations to come if we were to continue to struggle in Eternal Online together. She needed to get used to it.
I nudged her with logic yet again. Besides, when I do inevitably succeed, I’ll just be that much stronger. Who knows how much experience this beast will give me?
She stopped pacing at last and walked up to face me. Her nose came within a few inches of mine and her golden eyes pierced me. Okay, I will let you go, but you must promise not to die… not for good, at least.
I suppressed my grin. No doubt that would only piss her off. A beast this huge and deadly and silly needed to be treated seriously. Of course. I promise.
At last, I turned to the queen and told her I was ready.
Pachi and I were surrounded by huge dragon-like beasts, their fangs as long as daggers, and their hides as hard as steel. They began serving us refreshments.
The queen explained, “I apologize for the circumstances in which you were brought before me. All sense of courtesy and consideration have bled away from our culture over the years. It is a shame, for we used to walk about, feeling the light of the stars on our scales. I would do so again before I grow too old to climb out of this mountain.”
More of the fish was served, and so was a steak of some pale meat that had me worried. I had no intention of disliking anything these people served us. I found out what it was when the queen’s food was brought, and an entire pig was set beside a dozen of the large fish.
Both of the creatures were unsightly. They had bulbous eyes, white and opaque, and their skin was a grayish white. I took a bite of the fish. And it was good.
Pachi was also given a pig’s head, which she thought was very considerate. Apparently, the head was fatty and quite flavorful. I studied my own plate, which featured a pork chop sitting innocently in a pool of its own juices. I ate it and studiously ignored the sound of a dragon and an enfield eating beside me.
The meal was over shortly, and then the queen spoke again. “I appreciate your courtesy in calling me by my title, Queen Matriarch, but from now on please just call me Teldaine. It is only part of my name, but I believe something you can easily say.”
“Teldaine is a lovely name,” I said. “Thank you for trusting us with it.”
She nodded then gestured toward the bowl of glowing liquid with one of her powerful talons. “This is a draught brewed for special occasions. We give it to the champions who sacrifice their lives for us each year in an attempt to retrieve the Ruby of Souls. It is called the Elixer of Flight. As you can see, the Sirrushi wyverns are not like the Fafniri. We gave up our wings long ago for our love of the deep places. This elixer grants an increase to speed. Please, both of you drink deeply.”
Pachi said mentally, But I will not be fighting. It seems wrong.
The queen spoke through her own mind, surprising us both. Your fight will be allowing your companion to venture alone. Please, accept this as an honor.
Pachi dropped her head, ashamed that the wyverns must have heard the extent of our argument. Of course, Queen Matriarch. And I’m so sorry for…
But the queen cut her off again. Hush, young one. Your concerns were valid and needed to be expressed.
Then, speaking aloud for all to hear, she explained, “This gem is worth everything to us, as it contains each and every Sirrushi wyvern soul. Without it, our elderly cannot pass on safely, and we cannot brood any young. Our people are dying out because we do not have the gem.”
I shook my head, confused. “But what about Quelten? He looks pretty young to me.”
The queen nodded, her teeth pulling back into a frightful smile. “Yes. Our eggs remain dormant until we decide to perform the ritual of hatching. Quelten was the last egg in our clutch, and he was hatched over ten years ago. We are lucky to have such a brave young wyvern, but much hope rests upon his scales.”
“And that is why you need me to get the gem: So that your people can continue to reproduce and rebuild your failing society,” I said, the obvious implications falling into place. “But wait, how am I supposed to succeed where such powerful creatures like yourselves have failed? I am no match for any of you by myself.”
“The monster you must face is not merely strong but is the oldest enemy of our kind. Vicious and gifted with many attributes that act to counter every advantage a dragon kin possesses. It is my hope that your own strengths, as limited as they are, will not be so subdued by the monster.” She raised her voice, imbuing it with a formal tone. “If the champions accept the risk and honor of their sacrifice, please drink now.”
I lifted the small bowl to my lips and drank until it was gone. Pachi lapped hers up, and though the queen’s bowl held only water, she drank as well. My body coursed with a strange energy, like fire and ice swirling within me and somehow not mixing. It made me feel like flying, if only I had wings.
“It is done!” the queen commanded. “Now let us escort the champions to the portal. Harnoth, assemble the guard!” I winced at the change in her tone. Despite the grinding booms of her voice before, the queen had been using her softest voice for our sake. Now, she was a ruler and a commander.
The sound of scaled beasts marching was even more impressive that I’d have guessed, and in short order, we were marching out of the palace and across the lake again.
We turned and continued toward the back of the enormous cavern, heading through a tunnel lined with glowing lanterns.
While we walked, I checked for any notifications, having a hunch that the draught we had been served gave a temporary buff. I just hadn’t expected it to be such a powerful one.
Status Effect: Wingless Flight
Wingless Flight: By drinking the sacred Elixer of Flight, you have been granted increased speed and prowess in battle. +50% movement speed. Duration: 24 hours. Effects last past death.
Being a recipient of the Elixer of Flight also marks you as a Sirrushi Champion. Reputation with the Sirrushi wyverns has been elevated to Honorable.
The boost to speed was staggering. This was not a normal elixir you could buy off the auction house. Even the really expensive ones only increased your speed by ten percent. Such an advantage for any Dexterity-driven class was enough to tip the scales in your favor. Fifty percent was ungodly!
But the reputation increase, I knew from experience, would mean a great deal more in the long run.
We marched onward, Harnoth and his soldiers to the front and rear of our formation. The queen came as well, but the coun
cil of elders dispersed along the way, no doubt returning to their homes. Despite the short time we’d been speaking with the queen, many of them already looked exhausted from the effort.
The tunnel continued down a gentle slope, a cylinder cut into the stone of the mountain. No turns marred the perfect descent. Just more tunnel and an endless chain of magic lanterns. I peered ahead and saw the spark of their ignition as Harnoth passed. Whatever ancient technology or magic they ran on, the power that fueled the lights was undiminished.
As last, the floor leveled out. Ahead I saw a vast mirror of light, glowing with the pale white of early morning.
Several guards were posted to either side, armed—quite literally—to the teeth. They had steel-sheathed talons and the tips of their greatest fangs were capped in mithril.
The portal was a perfect sheet of energy, and it was huge. Thirty feet tall and the same wide, the pond of light swirled clockwise in a slow and steady pattern.
I craned my neck up at the ominous portal, making a silent promise, and I just knew I’d regret my decision just as soon as I stepped through.
The queen sat nearby and said, “The creature that lives on the other side of this portal is called an Ichneumon. It is an ancestor to the small animal that is now called a mongoose. Over the centuries it has evolved many differences, though. The beasts used to be numerous, but our kind, with the aid of the Fafniri wyverns and a few dragon elders, hunted them to the brink of extinction. This is the only one left that we know of.
“They were not always evil, but their hearts were turned after the pact was broken and we warred against them. Many of our kind fell to their warriors, but we prevailed. Yet this one final Ichneumon entered our caves almost two hundred years ago, and stole the Ruby of Souls from our palace, killing the Queen Matriarch and many of the royal guards. It escaped down this tunnel and used an artifact to make this portal. Only the gnomes have the power to create portals, and I am no longer sure if they still can.
“Worse yet, this is a very specific type of portal. It is called an instance. It magically transports beings from here to another location: the creature’s own swampy lair. Each instance teleports individuals into a random location within the lair and controls the number of those allowed to enter at any given time. This instance only allows a single warrior to step into the Ichneumon’s lair.
“Because of these restrictions, we were unable to overwhelm the beast with numbers alone.”
I thought for a moment and asked the only thing left for me to understand before taking on the challenge: “Is there anything you can tell me about the Ichneumon? Does it have a weakness? Why is it so deadly?”
Harnoth asked the queen for a chance to answer. She tipped her head in assent and the guard explained, “The beast is not vast in size, but our records claim that they have a poison that kills any dragon kin swiftly. Some say that the poison must be injected, other tells stories of the Ichneumon spitting poison. We do not know. It is a fast and fierce creature, though, and fashions an armor for itself using its own saliva and the mud from the swamp. That is why the wyverns have trouble hurting the beast with claw or fang.”
I made a few mental notes, hoping that the hints would be enough to help me, but I would need to find out for myself.
Harnoth finished, “I am sorry, young warrior. All else is speculation and highly debated.”
I said that I was ready to depart and had only to reassure Pachi once more. Crossing to her, I pushed my forehead against hers, and breathed in the summer winds and spring grass smell of her fur. All is well, friend. I will be back soon.
She didn’t answer, but pushed against me, making me step back and toward the portal. Then she sat down on her haunches and faced the instance, prepared to wait for my return.
My hands shook slightly, but I steeled my nerves. I removed my bow and nocked an arrow, then walked forward and stepped into the moonlight surface of the portal.
A chilling tingle passed through me, and I marveled how I could feel my rear foot pushing off the stone behind me while the one in front squelched into sinking mud.
I found myself in a fetid swamp. Insects buzzed incessantly, filling the place with noise. The swamp seemed to be another underground chamber, and roots grew down from above like vipers. The swamp was large, but the ceiling hung as low as ten or fifteen feet in some places. In others, it rose up to thirty or more feet.
The smell of rot and mouldering death made my eyes water. I pressed my mouth into the sleeve of one arm and squished forward. All around me, puddles of rank water ran around and between tall, fern-like plants. It was the glowing leaves of the ferns that illuminated the vast chamber. Though it cast a sickly green shade to everything, I was nonetheless thankful to have some light.
I walked forward a few more feet and struck my foot on something hard. When I looked down, I saw a white stone, a trace of moss growing on its edges. Then I realized it was not a stone at all, but a single segment of a wyvern’s spine.
Taking in the chamber again, I realized that hundreds of bones protruded from the mud at all angles. This entire dungeon was little more than a graveyard.
Ahead of me, I saw a small mound of mud jutting up from the swamp. It wasn’t very tall, but it seemed the best place to get a better look at my surroundings.
More bones stuck up out of the earthen mound, and I reached out to grab one and pull myself up. The bone I touched was a long, thin rib, and when I pulled at it, the rib held as though it were firmly in place. Yet when I stepped up, trying to use the rib to climb, it twisted free, spinning slightly, and I fell down against the mound, my lip breaking on the stonelike mud.
And then the mound moved—slow at first, so slow I thought I was imagining it.
I heard the sharp hiss of something breathing, and the mound spun around to meet me. It unfurled, showing its length, and I stared up into the hateful eyes of the Ichneumon.
I drew and released the arrow faster than I ever had before, fear and the elixir speeding me along. The shaft sank into the creature’s neck.
The Ichneumon tittered then released a fountain of vile spit in my eyes, blinding me. I screamed and fell back, trying to push the burning liquid from my face. Then I felt its weight crush me, my shoulders sinking into the mud. The bones of my arms and clavicle snapped under the pressure and I felt my throat being torn out.
The world went silent.
A moment later, I appeared before the portal, screaming and clutching my neck. Pachi jumped up and growled, searching for an enemy.
She asked, a sense of desperation coloring her words, What is it? Why are you back? Who hurt you?
I looked around and saw the wyverns waiting patiently and realized what had happened at once. The pain was still slowly fading, but I was fine, no mud coated my body, and I still clutched my bow. Removing the quiver from my back, I counted my arrows. I had twenty-seven left. When I’d gone in, I had brought twenty-eight. That meant…
“I shot it with an arrow and the arrow is still gone,” I said. “My health is back, and somehow I have no death debuff. It must be part of the instance’s mechanics.” I looked over at the queen, who was unconsciously treading in place, shifting weight between her front paws. “I can do this.” I pet Pachi a few times, then, before I lost my nerve, I walked toward the portal.
Then I stopped. “Wait a minute. I need a rag, and I want to eat some of the Marduk jerky.” I rummaged through one of the packs on Pachi’s saddle.
I found some bandages and the rest of the jerky. I ate enough to get the Smokey the Bear Meat buff. My Stamina and Health Regeneration jumped up, but more importantly, my XP gain jumped by twenty percent. Hopefully I could kill this thing quick, because the jerky buff would not survive death, unlike the Elixer of Flying.
After wrapping the bandages around my face in several loops and retying my hair in a tight bun, I was ready to try again.
This time the insects, the stench, and the creepy atmosphere had less of an effect on me. My surroundings w
ere much different than before, as I’d been randomly placed in the swamp. This time I had to push my way out of a thick stand of ferns. It would’ve been a great place to hide, but I couldn’t see a thing in there.
Emerging, I saw that the ceiling above this part of the swamp stretched much higher. The thick fog that filled the chamber made the ceiling almost impossible to see, though it was still only forty or so feet high.
I found a dry patch of land and walked around as slowly as possible, hoping my stealth bonuses would count for something against the monster. I nocked another arrow and stalked through the swamp, pausing every now and then to listen. The Ichneumon could most likely move quietly in its own environment, but something that size couldn’t be silent.
I came to a high central dome with a thin stream of light filtering through. Far above, a tiny patch of the sky was visible. Below, a wide pond bubbled, a veritable hill of bones lining its distant shore. I made my way in that direction and, as I drew closer, realized that the large formation at the mound’s top was a wyvern’s ribcage.
I walked down the tunnel of the ancient ribs and marveled at the size. Even Anwar had not been so broad in the chest. I had room to stand up easily and could barely touch the ribs that wrapped over me like a cage.
For a moment, I couldn’t comprehend how something as relatively small as the Ichneumon could fell such a mighty wyvern, but I realized a creature that tall would have a hard time moving around in the swamp. No doubt that was why it had come here, to give its final fight in the tallest part of the cave.
The wyverns had no advantage here, though. The mud had surely slowed their movements, the ceiling had forced them to crouch, and their senses had been invaded by the rot of the swamp. And then there was the beast itself, of course, which had evolved to kill them with ease.
