Monarch- the Elementalist

by Gideon Omoruyi

ELDRITCH

  Let me give you your answer.

  She held out her hand and a gigantic hammer materialized. She swung it once to gain momentum before the brute hammer collided into my torso. A devastating explosion emitted from her hammer and I was sent hurling through the sky like a rocket.

  What a powerful woman. I felt a great amount of pain within seconds but at least my body stayed whole. Amazing. Truly, I was impressed. Nevertheless she was a horrible bitch for doing such a thing. I hoped to land somewhere safe. No wolves, bears, or crazy purple ladies to screw with my immortality. I had time to think as I was covering ground at an extreme rate, and to make things better, I was going west. I began my descent and prepared for the painful landing.

  I smashed into the steep rocky wall of a ravine, dislocated my left shoulder, and fell down into the ravaging river below. I began taking large gulps of water to quench my thirst. The current was fierce and I was tossed about before the current let up dropping me over a waterfall.

  I smashed into a rock and quickly grabbed onto it. I pulled myself up and realized this wasn't a rock, rather a small broken platform leading towards an old dark stone door. Before going any further I took a moment to jam my arm back into place,

  PAIN

  Gah! Fuck!

  But made it worse. I decided it was best to let it heal on its own so I laid there for a few minutes until I was at least able to move my left hand. It allowed me time to relax and breathe. I stood upon the platform and looked across the stream and saw the other end of the platform and another door.

  I concluded that the two had connected together at some point. There was only one way to go and so I opened the door and made my way through. My foot sank onto a pressure plate and my heart skipped a beat because I feared impalement by poison arrows.

  Instead, an oil metal torch at the center of the room came alive and lit much of the small room. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye; two baby Black Spotted Arachnids awoke.

  They bore their fangs at me as I reached down to arm myself with a bone of a dead kinan. That is what we call our race. The third most intellectual magical creature that exist. Ents came afterwards and then, of course, the Dragons were the pinnacle of magic.

  But enough with the inept explanation. These arachnids were not going to get the best of me. One pounced at me and I noticed something as I smacked it; crushing its face. They were slow and weak. Compared to the Black Forest Arachnids that tormented the forests of the Kingdom of Fire, these spiders were much slower.

  I stomped the first one to death and did my best to avoid its fangs. The other one did not move from its spot and spewed a chunk of web at me. It fell flat in front of me.

  Poor thing. It was about to die and it was terrified. I know that feeling of sheer horror and it came long before my immortality; during a makeshift patrol through the forest. We were neither fighters nor trained mages but we had an order from our noble to gather some arachnid silk. It wasn't as if he needed it for importance rather he just wanted to see some at the cost of a few lives. Seven young scribes died that day. Such impenitence.

  I shook the feeling away and towered over the arachnid before I smashed it to death. I had enough of others screwing with my immortality, it was time to fight back. I then understood why the arachnid refused to move. Behind its crushed corpse, I lay my sight upon a hideous, dead overgrown rat. It was a fresh one—recently killed.

  I took it and roasted it over the oil torch with the use of a bone jammed through its mouth. After the foul stench told my nose the critter was cooked all the way through, I bit into its belly with an eerie crunch.

  It tasted awful but the fact that it filled my stomach was worth it. I avoided most of its fur and ate through the abdomen with big bites. After a while, I began to experience immense pain coursing through my body before I collapsed.

  I didn't know how long I was out but I did writhed in pain while passed out before I awoke in a dark room.

  Passive

  Petty Poison Resistance Lv 3

  It seemed like I had gained some resistance to poison. Damn rat was poisoned and it was considerably different than the other toxins I had experienced. In hindsight, common sense should have told me but whatever. Besides, I felt satisfied and had some energy.

  I stumbled around looking for the pressure plate before remembering my ability to cast fire. I did so and eyed the door I came from before heading toward another door leading further inside.

  I carefully peeked through a crack and noticed that the next room was vast and well lit by oil torches lining both the floor and the ceiling. I took notice of several dead Black Spotted Arachnid babies. Something was moving around and so I cracked the door a bit more and saw skeletons wandering around.

  Two were gripping swords while others were barehanded. If it were just skeletons, then I should be alright. They were slow and clunky and if they were to cut me down, I'd still be able to fight.

  I waited for one of the barehanded skeletons to get close enough before I charged in and tackled it, doing my best to mimic Cosmo. It shattered into pieces and as I got up, a skeleton warrior hobbled over to me.

  I struggled with it and did my best to shatter it, but it was strong and durable. Another barehanded skeleton attacked me from behind. I barely felt it because this skeleton was especially weak and my Lesser Hard Skin was working. I lured the wide uncoordinated swing from the warrior into the other skeleton and it shattered it into pieces.

  It suddenly stopped attacking and fled from me. The others followed suit. That was strange because I had never thought the undead fled from battle. I decided to take a look around and I noticed a few personal belongings in the corner, some oil flasks and several potions. Was someone living here?

  Scorching pain exploded down my left side and I was sent flying across the room. As the debris and dust cleared, I saw their eyes shining through before their pale twisted faces and sharp fangs came into view. My mind raced and I soon realized what creatures were attacking me.

  So this would be how it ends? Naked and trapped by three vampires. How did I end up like this? Oh. Right. I remember. I remembered all of it and goddamn it, it all sucked. Then the thought came to me. If they were to figure out that I am immortal they would—

  ABIGAIL

  Did this piece of shit destroy two of my skeletons?

  I soon noticed that they were mostly naked. Abigail wore dark robes tied with a thin string. A dagger-like saber was nestled within the string. She was barefooted and her breasts were in view.

  CAIN

  He survived my fire. So yes?

  Cain wore robes and a tiara upon his head. His robes were not tied showing his full bare chiseled body and rock hard erection.

  ABIGAIL

  And here I was thinking a larger arachnid was on the loose.

  PROD

  He isn't even worth eating.

  Prod wore a leather vest and helm. He was armed with a sword and wore no pants showing his hard erection as well. Despite my predicament, I could guess what they were doing before I stumbled in here. They were vampires after all; ageless and would never tire.

  ABIGAIL

  Ugh. Not to mentioned his stench. He reeks of silver. I'd rather kill it with fire.

  CAIN

  Not my fire. Use your own magic.

  Cain took his leave.

  PROD

  You can take care of it.

  Prod followed after Cain and I caught a glimpse of play between them as they rushed back down. Abigail then proceeded to pummel me with her fist. She was stronger than most kinan punches who had punched me in the past. She broke a few of my teeth, a rib, and caused several hairline fractures.

  ABIGAIL

  Damn. What are you? A runaway knight?

  It was my Lesser Hard Skin. She had clearly hunted normal kinan before and knew the difference between my body and theirs. My body wasn't regenerating fast enough for her to take notice so, I took the punishment waiting to find an opening but she w
as too fast.

  ABIGAIL

  To hell with this.

  She summoned a skeleton warrior from the pile of bones and sword on the ground and ordered it to stab me to death. I didn't move until she desummoned it and turned to walk away. I grabbed a corked ceramic phial of oil and hurled it at the back of her head as hard as possible. It shattered and all it did was cover her head in glossy oil.

  That infuriated her. She turned on me, bore her fangs and within a second she had driven her dagger through the side of my skull. I began to act like I was dying; my eyes twitching, and my breathing slowing down. She grinned in triumph. With her guard down, I grabbed both sides of her head and blasted fire. The oil combusted and she screamed and rolled around in pain before her body exploded into dust.

  I laid there for a moment as I relished the idea of killing a vampire. I was not eaten, poison, exploded into the air nor tortured for months. I won.

  PAIN

  Ha, how the hell…

  Afterwards, I was slightly upset. She had a nice body and was reasonably attractive despite the twisted face. The other two would be incredibly disappointed now that she was gone.

  I scavenged through the ashes and found (???) Dark Robes, Iron Dagger +1, and Spell Book: Summon Skeleton. The robes had an ominous feeling to them noted by the prefix (???). It meant that the robes had been enchanted by being combined with pure magic performed by an Enchanter or someone with enchanting knowledge whose magic was stronger and more complex than my own. Anyone with great understanding of enchantments or a great amount of mana could instantly understand the magic used upon the robes by just looking at them. Since the magic used to enchant this item was more complex than my own, I had to allow my mana to be infused into it to truly understand the complexity. This process was called, unsealing. I couldn't wear these robes at all because simple skin contact would start the process.

  On the other hand, a prospector, usually any Infusers or Enchanter, would be able unseal mana of renowned complexity allowing anyone to infuse their mana into such an item, claiming it as their own. Eventually, the complexity would become sealed after some time if the item hadn't been used or if the recent owner had died. A natural law such as that made it difficult to steal unsealed powerful enchanted items without killing the owner.

  The greater ominous mana, the more mana and skill it required. If I did not have enough mana, the magic within the robes would pour into me and either curse me or attempt to kill me. Despite my immortality, painful deaths were better than random magical curses. Furthermore, some curses were not easy to get rid of and were costly. If a curse failed to kill a creature, it could doom them for the rest of their lives. Luckily, a majority of curses were temporary and passed over time. It could also spread to those who sought to cure it because they must infuse their mana into the curse in hopes of understanding the complexity of the curse.

  But enough. I was not afraid of the ominous feeling and infused my mana into it. The seal was easy to understand and in only a few seconds, I understood the enchantment to be (Mana Infinity Robes) Dark Robes, +1% Mana Regeneration.

  A poor enchantment but it would still sell for a good amount of puries (a form of currency that I will explain later). I put on the robes and proceeded to unlock the spell book. All spell books contained a magical lock that requires mana to be infused into it. Unlike curses and unidentified enchantment, spell books would not curse those who could not open it. Many individuals would give up opening a spell book after draining half of their mana into it.

  Depending on how much mana used to open the lock signifies the chances of learning the spell. After I poured my mana into the lock, it unbound, the book floated up, opened to random page before dissolving into dust. A tingling sensation rushed through my body informing that I had just learned something new.

  Active

  Summon Skeleton Ritual

  Calculating the amount of mana used to unlock the book, I would say I had an eighty percent chance of successfully learning the spell after it opened.

  To summon a skeleton, I required bones. I looked around and noticed that wasn't a problem. This area was littered with bones. I gathered a pile of kinan bones and proceeded to cast Summon Skeleton Ritual. The task was daunting and hard pressed but after two minutes of constant focus, a trembling skeleton stood before me.

  Afterward, I decided to take a better look around. There were two more vampires that would eventually return after a while. This area was spacious save for the few large slabs of wall that had crumbled. This place made me assumed it was meant for coordinated training for martial artists. There were empty weapon racks and shelves bolted to the walls meant for weaponry and armory.

  Besides the way I entered, there were three more exits. I could see a door at the end of a dark corridor from where I stood, there was also the exit taken by the vampires, and another door to the right.

  Recall Memory did not work well on memories I had before becoming immortal but I can recall most of it. When I read about vampires, I learned of different variants caused by their diets. I wondered if these vampires avoided kinan blood and meat. I couldn't remember all the types of variants but I knew for sure they had no dire taste for my flesh.

  I handed the Iron Dagger +1 to my skeleton and ordered it into the dark corridor. The +1 was a suffix that noted the quality of the weapon. I had not yet seen any weapon or armor above a ten. I gathered several torches and placed them at the corridor entrance. This would hamper a vampire's infrared vision and night vision into the corridor. I took some phials of oil and emptied a few on the ground. I only took one of the phials with me and hid under the fallen slab of wall and debris.

  Now, I would wait for the two vampires. I remembered one of them mentioning the use of his fire, so he must have been a mage. It would have been perfect if just one of them came up to check. If both of them returned, the chances of my trap succeeding dwindled.

  About half an hour had gone by and my mana from summoning a skeleton was almost replenished. The skeleton drained my mana while active and slowed my mana regeneration. I was grateful that it took almost an hour for the two vampires to return, because my mana replenished completely and my injuries from Abigail had finally healed. Unfortunately, the regeneration left me quite hungry. When the two vampires reappeared the first thing they noticed was Abigail's ashes,

  CAIN

  That piece of shit killed her!

  Through a tiny crack, I saw Cain dig through her ashes before he punched the ground in a fit of rage. The impact left a deep fist sized crater. My heart pounded at the sight of his brute strength.

  CAIN

  I'm going to kill that—

  Prod calmed him and pointed in my direction. Cain lowered his voice into a whisper,

  CAIN

  He thinks he can hide... I'll turn him into dust.

  Prod guided Cain's attention towards the ground,

  PROD

  Calm down. I'll go and knock him out and then you can play with him. He's probably a fighter. The only way he was able to put down Abigail. I'd like to see how good he is first, if you don't mind.

  Yes, that's it. Come closer you little perverted vampire. I felt Prod's approach by memorizing his movements and the timing of each step. At some point he stopped, probably because he was preparing to surprise me.

  As he appeared, he lunged his sword into me. I ate the sword with my right rib cage, thrust the phial of oil towards his face and lit it on fire. The phial exploded on his face. He screamed out in pain and I reached out to finish the job. He exploded into ashes. A Vampire's weakness against fire was incredible and fast acting.

  Cain screamed out in horror and became enraged. He cast Lightning, emitting streams of powerful bolts from his hands that pummeled the slabs protecting me. I should've known he would have more than one type of magic. His aim was precise and not a single bolt ignite the oils upon the ground.

  I ordered my skeleton from behind him to commence the surprise attack but when it came int
o the light, Cain turned instinctively and combusted it with fire.

  He laughed a high pitch squeal,

  CAIN

  Was that your trump card?

  He stepped back from the oil,

  CAIN

  I am going to blow this entire place—

  I saw it through the crumbling slab. Pure dumb luck saved me again because the skeleton's arm carrying the the dagger fell from the sky and thrust into his collar bone. He was stunned and confused.

  I rushed in as fast as I could. He blasted a bolt at me and I ducked and slid forward on the oil. It had to be quite hard to aim with a knife stuck in your neck.

  As I slid, I let my hands run along the oil before I was able to lunge at him and with all my of my mana, I exploded fire from my hands and yelled,

  PAIN

  Burn!

  It ignited with the oil and created a majestic cone of flame that engulfed Cain. Both he and I screamed out in pain. His was cut short when he burst into ashes.

  I grunted in pain as both my hands up to my wrist were burnt. I was only able to cast fire from my palms, my mana zones, to be precise. Almost all mages can only cast magic from their palms without the use of a medium.

  Forcefully increasing the area can cause mana burn, which is when my own mana becomes unstable and burns me. Mana burns were distinctly different than fire burns; the former could scar a creature's skin for months and cause pain and itchiness throughout. I once heard rumors of a mage able to cast magic from the air itself or from different parts of the body. Maybe one day I would reach such heights.

  I screamed out in triumph before I quickly silenced myself. There had to be more vampires lurking within these ruins. I walked over to my skeleton parts, placed them back into a pile and used Summon Skeleton Ritual.

  I smiled and gave him a thumbs up. I was in a great mood. I killed three damn vampires and had a somewhat reliable friend. It only stared back at me with its empty sockets awaiting my command. I went over to the warrior's ashes to gather his items and received Leather Helm +1, Leather Vest +2, Iron Short Sword +3 and Tiny Phial of Healing.

  A healing potion? I remembered Cosmo force feeding me one. Other than that, I've never held one in my hands. Also, since Prod had this, I learned the undead such as Vampires could drink potions.