Demons of the Dark Online Part 1

by Derrick R Williams

  "How much does it cost to change your talents?"

  "The first time you change your talents is free. The next time you are sent on dangerous quests."

  Why not try them all? Though she had to admit she liked Soul Stealing the best. By all means if it came to a fight, she wanted to be in the back casting her spells rather than in the fray.

  She had somehow survived a test she had given herself without her demon's protection. Her confidence had grown and she knew that she could handle anything, even if he rebelled and challenged her in a middle of a fight.

  She handed in the pearl and received her experience points plus double. Soon she would be 10 and receive her first hell-hound quest.

  Like the imps who came with different powers, some used ice, some spied, others blasted their foes while others used fire to drain the health of their enemy.

  They also came in different colors. All were dangerous, given their crafty nature. The same was said for the hell-hounds as she wondered which one she would like to tame first.

  "Did you get it?" Prawnis perked up from his tome, staring at her with anticipation.

  "This?" Jinx held up the pearl.

  "Yes!" He bounced up and down as eagerness overcame him.

  Handing over the pearl, Prawnis gave her the rewards he promised. He also gave her extra xp.

  Walking through the tunnel, Azhar appeared beside her.

  "She's been healed and is battling for the amusement of the crowd. He put a slave collar on her and she can't fight off its effects." Azhar snarled as he stomped along the tunnel, his heavy boots vibrated along the walls.

  Just as she'd expected. He's healed her and now was making money off her battles, in which she could be killed.

  "He may have an assassin or two after me. Maybe even a couple of bounty hunters." Jinx thought aloud as she made her way outside.

  "Mistress, I have an idea that could get you what you desire." Keylos's voice rang in her mind.

  "How so?" She said, walking along the green carpet of grass alongside a brook.

  Keylos's eyes glowed with a magical light that radiated from them. Forming in front of her was the map of the land and she saw the "x".

  "This is where you need to go to find a magical trinket that will give you the power to erase his memory of the event and giving you the money for her, or yourself. All that she won fighting others. She'll be free once you use it on her." Keylos said with a wicked, echoing laugh that bounced around in her skull.

  "What does this trinket look like?"

  An image of the trinket appeared before her and it looked like a hand grasping arrows. It was metallic and glimmered with a blueish light.

  "How dangerous is the cave?"

  "Not very dangerous. However, you will have to use your wits to defeat all the traps and pitfalls in the cave.

  "What is the history of this cave?"

  "It belonged to a mad wizard who wanted to hold all his magical possessions. When he died, he never left the code word for the place. Its in disrepair, but the traps he set up still work due to his magic."

  "How do you know so much about this cave?" Jinx pondered if the skull had been created by this mad wizard.

  "I talked to another magical item and it told me the history of the place. It was created by an evil demon to enhance his power. Since he was so weak, I broke free from his power and devoured him." He explained.

  It was to be expected that he would do that. He was a warlock weapon and she expected nothing less from him than to defeat a weaker opponent and devour him. That was the way of almost all demons and magical items meant for warlocks.

  Walking through the tall conifers, sunbeams danced around her. Birdsong filled the air, but she didn't notice. Her thoughts were on the trinket that would give her a big advantage to rescue Valdara.

  She halted before the gaping maw of the cave. She was going to get this and use it. There was no way she was going to let anything stop her. For an item so valuable, she was willing to take the risks to attain it.

  Entering the mouth of the cave - which looked like a mouth of a dragon frozen in time - Jinx looked around. Darkness clothed her like a shroud as her keen, elven eyes adjusted to the darkness.

  The first thing she noticed was the flaming, red inscriptions on the wall. She stared at the writing, wondering what it said.

  Following the writing, she padded along the twisted corridor. Jinx stopped when she came to a glowing blue gate.

  "Who goes there?" A voice rumbled through the cavern, shaking her to her core.

  "Jinx Hellfire. Who might you be?"

  "I'm the guardian of this place. You may not enter until you have answered a riddle."

  "What is it?" Jinx frowned.

  "What has roots that nobody sees and is taller than trees. Up, up it goes and yet it never grows?"

  She stood, pondering the riddle. Silence rang in her ears. What was the answer?

  She was about to speak, then closed her mouth and thought some more. Pacing around the room, she thought of the answers that flowed to her mind.

  The weight of his patience bore down upon her as she puzzled out the answer. The pressure built like a storm, but she wouldn't give into it. She would answer only when she was ready.

  "A mountain." She finally spoke.

  "Correct."

  The doors heaved as they slowly swung open as if pushed by an invisible hand. Pebbles and dust drifted down to the floor as she walked in.

  "Each room has riddles, puzzles and mazes. If you do not pass them, you will die." The voice echoed down the hallway, sounding so ominous that Jinx shivered as she walked along the arched hallway.

  Azhar followed her in silence, his heavy footfalls echoing through the hall. She wondered what the next obstacle would be.

  "Chess?" She stopped suddenly. In the center of the large room was a chess set. She whistled, looking up at the giant pieces.

  "Wow!" She whispered.

  The pawns were ten feet high and the knights were twelve and the bishops and rooks were a little taller. The king and queen were tall like trees, reaching into the heavens.

  The sparkling white pieces looked like sculpted snow, while the black pieces sucked the light around them, glimmering like a mysterious black hole.

  "What do you expect me to do here? Are you going to play me in a game of chess?" Jinx was bemused at the thought of it.

  "Yes. This room is strategy. It takes patience, thinking ahead, planning and craftiness in the game by making sacrifices and corralling your opponent into a position of weakness." The Guardian said with a slight smugness to his voice.

  "Have you ever played chess with anyone?"

  "My master, the mage, was very powerful and intelligent. He taught me everything about chess." His voice echoed through the room like a drum.

  There was a tall platform where a being of pure energy stood. He gazed down at her as if he were a king.

  "What color would you like?" His voice mocked her as it boomed through the room like thunder.

  "Black." She said.

  "You do know white has the advantage?"

  "Maybe."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "It's the way you play the game that gives you the advantage." Jinx explained.

  "Well said." He snapped his fingers and the pieces arranged themselves on their respective sides of the board.

  The white griffin chess piece sprang into the air and with long, slow strokes she moved to her knight's square. The white, marble Dwarves marched to their pawn squares and stood ready for the battle. All pieces stood in their correct positions.

  The black pieces were dragons. hags, vampires, nightmares and the king was a lich and the queen of all the black pieces was a beautiful succubus.

  "Queen pawn e-4." The magical creature said.

  The stout dwarf marched forward and stood ready for an attack.

  Jinx spoke her move to the air. She loved watching the black king's pawn move up one space.

  The
small, dragon-like kobold scurried to the square she'd indicated. He stood there with his small spear, ready to attack.

  Azhar gave a deep sigh. He watched the game without the appreciation for it she had.

  Jinx calculated her moves against his, attempting to see his game plan, while trying to hide her own. As the game progressed, she not only battled him, but the boredom of sitting for a long period of time.

  Victory, that is what she needed and as the game dragged its feet into eternity, it became harder and harder to concentrate on the game.

  Jinx loved watching the pieces move. They'd often attack each other and the defeated piece would shatter and disappear, then reappear on the other side of the board.

  The middle game was a slug-fest. There were so many options, It was the hardest to analyze, through, and Jinx was even more careful of her moves. So many potential options and opportunities made it hard to choose.

  "You are doing better than I expected." The Guardian grumbled as his gruff voice buffeted the room.

  "How long have you been alone here and not able to play chess?" Jinx asked as she moved her queen. "Check."

  The elegant succubus moved over the checkered squares and placed the king in a position where he had to move to avoid her devastating attack.

  "A very long time." He sighed.

  He studied the board and commanded the knight to block the queen's attack.

  Jinx leaned back in her chair.

  It all could change in a moment and she was determined to win. It seemed like they had played for hours before enough pieces had been wiped from the board and the end game became apparent.

  The game grew even slower as each player considered their options. The end game was finally upon them and Jinx was fighting for her life.

  Being down in pieces, she struggled to keep afloat as she attacked him and defended her king. It drew forth a determination she didn't know she possessed.

  The game drew to a close as he pinned down her king by snatching the most important piece on the board, the queen.

  He played cat and mouse with her as he drove her king across the board. She still played on, grinding her teeth as nervous tension gripped her neck, working its way down her back.

  She knew she'd lost the game. There was no way she could fight two rooks with just a king. The game was quickly over the moment he tired of playing cat and mouse with her.

  "Good game. Now it's time to pay the price of losing."

  "What price?" Jinx clenched her jaw.

  A lightning orb appeared and swiftly swooped down upon them, before she could utter any words or conjure up her magic from her gestures.

  Even though Azhar sprang into the air, ready to battle, the crack of the spear had overcome him as it pounced on her. Pain filled her body as lightning streaks danced over her.

  The last thing she recalled was his sinister laugh as she faded into blackness.

  Continued in Part II...