by Jamey Sultan
James tried to cast Arcane Teleport, hoping that maybe Silence wouldn’t affect him because he had Essence and not Mana. His Essence dropped by 162 points, and the world stuttered for a second.
James let out a triumphant whoop.
Then the world sped back up.
The guards looked confused and hesitated in their advancement for a second, but they continued their movement when nothing happened.
James frowned. He’d just wasted valuable Essence and only had a little over 500 left. Even if he could use it, he was cutting it close. Ideally, he shouldn’t dip below 300. James glanced around the battlefield, looking for something to use to win the fight. Without his overpowered teleportation ability, there was no way he’d be able to take out three high-level guards, even with Tyrfing.
“Nowhere to run now,” one of the guards, a level 45 soldier, said as he advanced on James.
“Yea, you’re going to pay for what you did to the others,” another guard said. He seemed particularly angry.
As the guards stepped forward, James did the only thing he could think to do.
He screamed “Duck!” and slammed Tyrfing into the blue barrier. As soon as he did so, he threw himself to the ground. Hopefully, whatever came out of the hallway would see the guards first.
The buzzing sound grew as the barrier collapsed, and a swarm of wasps descended on the guards. If you could call them wasps.
They were a dark, mottled purple with spots of yellow and green. Their coloring reminded James of a half-healed bruise.
Swamp Eater Soldier (Level 19)
Each of the Swamp Eater Soldiers let off a malevolent, violent light. They were between six inches and a foot long with wicked-looking stingers at their rear. All were between levels 15 and 19. Ten smaller wasps surrounded one much larger wasp.
Swamp Eater Queen (Level 31)
The queen was almost twice as big as the smaller soldiers, and a small crown of violet light floated above her head.
Two wasps attacked the Silencer, who hadn’t noticed anything was wrong. James watched in horrid fascination as one of the wasps stung him. The Silencer collapsed to the ground, arms locked at the elbows in an outstretched position, his body shaking in a seizure.
Six more wasps followed the queen as she floated lazily after the fleeing soldiers. James and his group stay still, bodies pressed against the floor. James barely breathed. They waited, but four of the wasps seemed content to hover above them. James’ anxiety grew as the wasps refused to move. If they didn’t move soon, either the rest of the wasps or the soldiers would return.
James watched the wasps. He needed to act. With 500 Essence left, he could cast Arcane Teleport three times, but that would bring him to the edge of death, and his Mage Armor had already been destroyed. Still… he had to take a chance.
James cast Arcane Teleport and rolled up to a standing position. He took a second to dust himself off and position himself so that he was behind all four of the wasps. He slashed Tyrfing in a wide arc as time unfroze.
Three wasps fell to his blade, but the furthest one reacted faster than the others. It dodged out of the way and buzzed toward James.
James’ Essence flashed dangerously. It had dipped low into the 300s. If the wasp hit him, he was done for. As he prepared to cast Arcane Teleport again, a hammer smashed the wasp into the wall. James let out a sigh of relief and nodded his thanks to Arik.
“Let’s get out of here before they come back.”
The passageway changed as they passed the blue barrier. It was no longer a well-built rectangular hallway lined with red brick. Instead, the brick faded into rough sandstone, and the neatly cut corners disappeared. The tunnel dipped down for a section before it continued up. They followed it, careful to maintain their Stealth. It was eerily silent other than their footsteps echoing softly down the passageway.
After a while, they came upon another blue barrier, the exact same as the first. James tried to look through it but couldn’t make out anything. He destroyed it with Tyrfing.
A room full of Dwarves stared at James, surprise written on their faces.
James stared back at them.
Chapter 10
The Dwarves were sitting around a table playing cards. There was a pitcher of amber liquid in the corner of the table next to a bowl of snacks that James didn’t recognize. The Dwarves clearly hadn’t been expecting guests because one of them was in his underwear and nothing else.
Time seemed frozen as the two groups just stared at each other. James took in details about the room as if someone else were watching. The entire room smelled like waste and scattered broken cages lay strewn between bedrolls. In the back of the room was a line of intact cages filled with dangerous-looking animals. The entire room was grimy and just stepping into it made James want to wash his hands.
A pair of dice fell from a Dwarf’s hand and hit the table. They clattered around and landed—double sixes. The noise seemed to break the silent stalemate as the winning Dwarf jumped up, pumping his fists. His triumph didn’t last long as Nidra blasted him directly in the head with a fireball. He let out a scream as his beard ignited. The other Dwarves dove for their weapons. Well, all of them except for the one in his boxers. He dove for pants.
James took an instant to examine each of their status sheets. They were all between levels 20 or 30, with the Animal Handler class, except for the leader, who was level 45 and had the Exotic Beast Handler class.
James held out his hand and cast Arcane Missile.
He was reluctant to use Essence, but it was his only ranged attack, and he didn’t want to get close to the Dwarves when he barely had any left. The Essence collected in his veins, giving him a horrifying ethereal appearance. The missile burst out of his hand and slammed into the chest of the group leader, the Exotic Beast Handler. It caught the leader off guard and blew him off his feet.
“Quickly,” James shouted as he pushed through the Dwarves, who were still scrambling for weapons.
As he ran through the Dwarves, he swiped Tyrfing from side to side, carving large gashes and removing limbs with ease.
One Dwarf raised a mace to block James’ blow, but Tyrfing cut through it like butter. An arrow hit the wall next to James’ head, sending chunks of stone out. A sharp fragment of wall spun past James, cutting a line across his cheek. One of the Dwarves swung a stick that crackled with electricity at James. James blocked it with Tyrfing, while the thought, “Is that a fucking cattle prod?” ran through his mind. When Tyrfing hit the weapon, the electricity arced through James’ sword and ran down his arm. His Essence dropped by hundred points, down to a little over 200.
Shit.
He swung Tyrfing in another arc. He must’ve landed a lucky hit because he received experience for killing a level 31 Dwarf. He didn’t look behind him, but he did hear crashing and fighting from the others. He burst past the animal handlers and into the hallway of a building.
“Go!” he screamed to his companions who’d just caught up with him. They passed him, and he slashed at the tunnel entrance with Tyrfing, his sword cutting deep furrows into the rocks, sending them crashing to the ground behind him, blocking the way back. The stones behind them weren’t going to stop the Dwarves for long. James could already hear them trying to get through. “Now what?” he asked, breathing heavily.
“What do you mean now what?” Nidra asked. “Shouldn’t you have a plan?”
“It’s my first time in this city too,” James pointed out. He, Nidra, and Lucien all turned to Arik with expectant looks on the faces.
He met their gazes and sighed. “I know where we can go.”
“We need to be careful,” Lucien chimed in. “If anyone sees our group, they’ll know exactly who we are.”
James agreed with Lucien, but there was nothing they could do about that. He stepped back to allow Arik to the front of the group and gestured for the Dwarf to lead them. The Dwarf led them up a series of stairs and through the building, which seemed like a warehouse of so
me sort. It had a distinct smell as if it had been full of animals.
As they reached the top of the first staircase, James used Tyrfing to collapse it. Another trick to slow down pursuers.
He wanted to take a second to assign his points, but Nidra insisted that they move. James didn’t argue; she was right.
They cracked open the door to the warehouse and peered out. It was late afternoon and bright out, but there was nobody around.
Strange.
James wondered where everyone had gone. The city had been bustling last time he’d been out.
“Where is everyone?” he whispered to Arik.
“I don’t know; something isn’t right,” Arik said.
There was a crash down below.
“I think they got past the first barrier,” James said urgently. “We should go.”
The four of them dropped into Stealth and exited out into a narrow alleyway. It looked like they were in an unmarked warehouse among many.
“Follow me.” Arik gestured at the group and led them through a series of side streets and alleyways.
As they walked, they kept an eye out for anyone or anything, but nothing. The streets were silent as the dead.
James took a second to click through his notifications as he walked. He’d gotten quite a few experience notifications and a Skill Rank in Swordsmanship that he’d completely missed. He also took a second to assign his points for reaching level 23.
First, he assigned his stat points. With the bonuses he’d added to his Strength and Dexterity, they were some of his highest stats. He also had a high Wisdom and Intelligence score, so they didn’t need any extra points. His Resilience was technically higher than any of his other stats, if he considered that one point in an advanced stat was worth ten for a basic stat.
The stats that had lagged behind were Luck, Charisma, Constitution, and Endurance. He had nine free points to assign.
James decided to put five points into Constitution and four into Endurance. Both of those stats would hopefully increase his Essence, which would increase his survivability. He’d thought about placing points in Charisma or Luck, but he’d need to save his points if he wanted to assign them to those stats because each of them costed ten times as much as a basic stat point.
The new points brought James’ total Constitution to 53 and his total Endurance to 54.
As soon as James’ Constitution passed 50, a blood-red notification popped up.
Error: Null Pointer Exception
It appears that the Constitution variable no longer affects anything due to your loss of Health, Mana, and Stamina. The system would like to apologize for this error. Please wait while the issue is fixed.
Re-calibrating stat.
It felt like someone jammed an ice pick into James’ brain. He almost collapsed, screaming, but managed to hold his composure by grabbing onto a nearby wall. He slid down and put his head in his hands.
“James,” Nidra hissed. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
James just shook his head and held up a finger for her to wait.
“We need to go,” Arik said. “What’s going on?”
There was a soft ding, and James received another notification.
Patch complete.
Thank you for your patience, points assigned to Constitution now apply to Essence.
James took a sharp intake of breath as energy rushed through him. His essence bar shot up by over 500 points, all the way to 960/2830.
Using the wall, James pulled himself to his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked away the tears blurring his vision. All three of his companions hovered around him, worried.
“Are you okay?” Arik asked. “What happened?”
Nidra nodded. “What happened?”
“I’m fine, really. It was a system thing. We need to go.”
The other two nodded. He realized that they didn’t necessarily accept his explanation, but they understood that they needed to go.
Now that he wasn’t on the edge of death, James felt much better. As they continued through the alleys, his companions occasionally shooting him worried looks, he pulled up his Ability tree. He had three points to assign.
With Tyrfing, James didn’t need to focus on offense whatsoever. As long as he had high defense and his teleportation ability, he’d be pretty much unstoppable. Because his biggest issue was almost running out of Essence, James placed all three points into Arcane Mastery, bringing the Ability up to 22.
Arcane Warrior I
Arcane Mastery (22/30):
- 22% Essence cost for Arcane Spells and Abilities
+ 20% Casting Speed for Arcane Spells and Abilities
Your control of Arcane Magic increases, granting increased control, damage, and casting speed when using Arcane spells.
He was a bit frustrated that he’d gained his Arcane Warrior class so close to level 25 and lost the chance to invest heavily in the class tree. There were so many cool abilities in this class that he doubted he’d be able to explore once he got his Journeyman class.
In the distance behind, James could still see the arena. It rose over the nearby buildings and dominated his view. Shouts and screams of pain drifted from the arena on the wind, and James wondered who they’d put in to replace them.
A commotion from the street ahead caught James’ attention. Curious, He motioned for the rest of the group to wait for him. He dropped into Stealth and crept up the alleyway toward the angry voices. He peered out of the shadows to see a group of Dwarves surrounding a priest of Sytar. The priest stood on an elevated platform. The Dwarves around him were calling out angrily, but their anger wasn’t directed at him.
The priest ignored their cries; he was lost in his own rant. “—actual enemy. Imagine living in a desolate wasteland all your life and just wanting something better for yourself and your children. The Orcs wouldn’t have attacked us if we’d simply let them pass through the mountains unmolested. They just wanted access to fertile land. Land the Humans have been hoarding for lifetimes. Humans have been in control of the Serpent Plains for too long. They kill Orcs on sight, and for what? Wanting a better life? Well, no more. The enemy of your enemy is your friend, and our real enemies are the Humans.”
His speech was met with resounding applause and cheers from the crowd. Well shit. That’s not good. As James retreated, he saw the priest handing out stacks of paper to interested Dwarves. When he got back to his curious companions, James recapped the priest’s speech.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked Arik.
The Dwarf shrugged. “I have no idea. It wasn’t like this a few months ago, when I left the city. Although Human hate has been ramping up for a few years now, this is the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
“Great.” James groaned. “Well, we don’t have time for this. We need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Right.” Arik led them further through the city’s twisting roads as they took more side-streets to avoid others. Whether it was luck or something else, they didn’t encounter anyone else as they crossed the city.
James’ Stealth leveled up twice, to 21, due to close encounters. The only time they came close to encountering anyone was when they passed more market squares with Dwarves gathered around priests of Sytar, who were preaching peace with the Orcs and hatred toward the Humans.
James barely noticed the increases. He was lost in thought. He didn’t understand it. Why were the priests of Sytar trying to frenzy the groups against Humans?
Nothing made sense.
Eventually, they reached the very edge of the outer city, where Arik led them to a small door cut directly into the side of the mountain. Carved into the stone itself was a symbol of a hammer crossed with a potion bottle. Arik glanced to both sides and made sure nobody was around before he knocked on the door. The door swung open, and before any of them could react, a figure swooped out and grabbed Arik.
Chapter 11
James had a hand on the hilt of his sword before his min
d had even processed what was happening. Before he could draw it, though, he realized that the Dwarf wasn’t attacking Arik; he was hugging him in the tightest bear-hug James had ever seen. Arik grunted and squirmed, trying to get free, but his struggling was futile under the figure’s iron grip. After a few seconds, he gave up, falling into the hug. James took a second to examine the Dwarf’s status page.
Name: Desi Forgeborn-Martinez
Race: Dwarf
Level: 57
Class: Swordsmith
James focused on the Dwarf’s last name. Forgeborn? Is he related to Arik?
Before he could focus on that, though, he took a second to take in Desi’s imposing figure. James had thought Arik was buff, but his companion had nothing on Desi, who could only be described as a mass of muscles. Arcane symbols danced across his skin, giving James goosebumps. The last time he’d seen magical tattoos like that had been on the slaver, Audun. But he could tell very quickly that these tattoos were nothing like those had been. It was pretty clear to see that Desi did not intend to harm them.
For one thing, James wasn’t getting sleepy staring at the tattoos. For another, Desi seemed so overcome with emotion that he had tears and snot dripping down into his beard.
“Arik, my baby, I’m so glad to see you. I missed you so much.”
Yep. Definitely related.
Desi stopped and looked around as if noticing the others for the first time. He beamed at them, joy clear on his face. “Come in, come in. You’re all too skinny. Come, let me feed you.” He held the door open and gestured for them to follow him through the doorway.
Arik sighed in evident exasperation. “Hi, Dad. These are my companions.” He pointed to each of them and introduced them in turn. He then turned to them, “Guys, meet my dad.”
