Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3)

by John Gold

  He could sense all of that, but he couldn’t see it. As soon as LJ opened his eyes, the sensitivity dropped significantly, leaving him conscious of just the magic streams coming from his body. He definitely knew which way the tree was. It was a part of his body, with the same…aura.

  LJ tensed in an effort to hear what was going on in the tavern. Uncertainty badgered him, so he did everything he could to overcome the distance.

  There was no desire to run away. That would just create more problems he didn’t know how to solve. His inner voice whispered that everything was going to be okay.

  Global notification: Beelzebub was summoned by Ekron

  Global notification: Ekron received the Image of Beelzebub ability

  Global notification: A demon invasion has begun.

  Just a couple of hours had passed, but the sunlight coming in through the window turned red. Crimson clouds covered the sky. The flame burning on the torch in the corridor turned blue.

  A tremor ran through the ground—something had apparently exploded at the edge of the city. LJ was worried, as it felt like the sensations had come from the direction of the tavern. His imagination threw a picture of the destroyed tavern in front of him. Would Milisandra come at all if there wasn’t a tavern to come to?

  After just a second’s thought, the prison wall burst into tiny pieces. His subconscious had acted faster than his body—LJ didn’t even realize that he was the one who demolished the wall.

  The guards rushed into the courtyard and prepared to defend the prison. That, however, only served to confirm LJ’s worry that the city was under attack. The cat moved soundlessly, creeping along the earth without wondering how he was able to do so. It was just a reflex. Arkham moved like that, quickly and quietly, before the enemy had any idea where to swing.

  LJ leaped across the fortress wall, using а cart loaded with provisions as a trampoline. He didn’t even consider how he was able to jump five meters, either.

  “Stop, cat! Where did you go?” The jailer hadn’t shackled LJ, thinking the cat a quiet one. It was only then that he realized how dangerous he was.

  It took LJ less than a minute to traverse the kilometer from the jail to the tavern. House roofs, small alleys, and running people all melted into a single vision before him. Nobody could match his speed. When the flow of people got too thick, the cat leaped up onto the roofs, sometimes hopping between buildings.

  LJ could already tell that his tree was burning. Flames licked at the crown. A feminine demon with six enormous, fly-like wings was shooting fire balls at the tree. It had no face, just two horns, the fire balls spitting out from between them.

  Demon, Ra’Kkhar Larva, Level 1498, raid boss

  What do people feel when they see their home being destroyed in front of them? Rage! LJ lost control, the assailant soared high into the sky, and the players there started to set up a defense by blocking all the streets on their side of the city lot. All the buildings between it and the new fortifications were in ruins, with a dark river of demons pouring into the city from the direction of the mountains. The first and most powerful blow had hit the freshly built wall. The people there had made a break for the portal as soon as the invasion started.

  An enormous streak of lightning smacked into the demon that was setting fire to the tree. A second later, another forced Ra’Kkhar to recognize LJ as an enemy. The smaller demons flashed toward the cat after his second attack, though they were no low-level bots—they were the strongest of demons breaking through the gap. Hell had no other kind. And they were all heading in LJ’s direction with orders to kill.

  The demons gave up on storming the streets, instead focusing their attention on the edge of the field where LJ had joined the battle. That bought the players time to build barricades and earthen shields.

  After surrounding the house where LJ was working from the roof, they started clambering up the sides. LJ killed them, one after another, as the seconds ticked by, putting all his strength into each blow.

  Finally, they changed their tactics and decided to rush him at once. He was forced to leap from the roof into the field.

  Buff received: Keeper of a weaker place of strength

  Effect: All main and derivative attributes increased by 125%

  Duration: As long as you are in the place of stength, for one hour or until fighting stops

  LJ was practically a lightning generator, sending it spouting out in every direction. When the demons got too close, he charred them with powerful dragon breath. Ra’Kkhar, flying around in the air, released a fire storm.

  Damage received: 930550 (ignored: 1177204)

  10800/10800

  The air heated up, and the fire storm was enough to torch even the demons themselves, but it didn’t touch LJ. His response, however, sent Ra’Kkhar tumbling to the ground. The recoil just about killed him, though LJ kept firing away until his fallen enemy was dead.

  More and more demons gathered, but LJ wanted to make sure that he’d killed Ra’Kkhar for good, so he ignored everything else to run over to the hole that had opened up in the ground. Down at the bottom, sure enough, enormous larvae had started to reform the demon’s body. A dragon breath burned everything in the crater.

  A wild cry rang out over the field—the players were beginning an organized counteroffensive. From all the alleys, homes, and other buildings, they poured out to make battle. Still, right in the center, LJ continued fighting off the warriors of Hell with his last few ounces of strength. Everything around him turned to ash as he healed himself relentlessly. Even the air burned to the point that the demons, with their natural resistance to fire, were destroyed in the cat’s attack.

  A light quivering in the air told LJ that somebody had tossed a sword in his direction. Arkham was participating in the counterattack, and he’d just given LJ a chance to save himself.

  LJ boiled over with rage, the cat feeling like his entire consciousness was expanding to control the field. Demons burned, spells flashed, battle surged, and blood ran in rivers. The shouts of the bloody people in the field were crazed, pulling LJ away from the demons with their chanted chorus: kill them all! His home was ablaze, tears poured down his face, and his head wouldn’t stop hurting, but there was no stopping him.

  LJ didn’t stand still; he kept moving, striking his foes with his sword and doing his best to keep them pinned. When there were too many of them, he switched to a fire attack that scorched them all.

  The players took up the offensive. Along the left flank was a girl in fire mage clothing, and she was the tip of that spear. Thanks to her aura of fire, she had to make sure she was well out in front, also not giving the demons a chance to mount a defense. The other flank was a unique picture, as two…mages fused in a fiery force of nature. The first looked like a lava golem and was trying to manage the strength he’d received, while the second ran around stark naked, his body, also made of lava, as bright as the sun. The heat they both exuded was so strong that earth mages had to throw up earthen shields to make sure their allies weren’t killed.

  Right at the center was an elf with a shield. His enormous agility and incredible power let him dodge attacks and crush the demons in reply.

  The fire mage girl summoned a battle familiar, a burning lion. Nobody could get anywhere near her.

  But the demons regrouped when the cavalry arrived. Of course, some of their kind were astride horses, though most of them rode more exotic creatures. A pair of wyverns appeared in the sky to vomit acid on the players.

  In turn, the players reformed so that a monk could step forward and stomp his foot on the ground with as much force as he could. Waves rippled out along the ground, erupting where the demons had gathered. A burst of fire leapt from out of the soil to break up the cavalry formation. Arrows came flying down from the roofs as bows and magic wands joined the fight. The demons were being pressed on three sides. Clearly, the players were organized under the leadership of a strong raid leader.

  Another wild yell broke out, this
time from the direction of the destroyed wall. A demon with huge black wings appeared in the sky, far stronger than any of the others and radiating an aura of suffering. Even from a hundred meters away, LJ could sense how strong it was.

  Demon, Ra’Ilmir Idol, Level 1798, raid boss

  It had long horns, grayish-black skin, and a very sparse beard. He swooped around like the lord of all things, summoning a second wave of demons from the mountains. Right then, LJ just barely had time to notice the enemy holding up a hand and whispering something. The cat’s hearing was so finely tuned that he could hear the spell the demon was hissing even in the midst of the battle, and he knew it was aimed at him. One movement, and a cone-shaped black flame leaped from the demon’s hand. Everything it touched died instantly, even the demons who got in its way.

  Damage received: 1130550 (ignored: 1155597)

  10800/10800

  It was a wind of death, one of the strongest dark magic spells, and one that did pure mental damage to all living things.

  The entire center of the players’ defense was broken, forcing them to redistribute their forces. The mages summoned golems. A girl, a light mage, got one of the wyverns to focus on her and jumped into a pond where her familiar duck wouldn’t keep its mistress from doing battle. Apparently, she’d already killed the other wyvern with a spear of brilliant light. It was a costly spell that took 5000 mana, but it was deadly against demons.

  Ra’Ilmir didn’t come close, and he dodged ranged attacks. He was, in fact, much smarter and stronger than the previous raid boss. His attacks were focused on LJ, with the players busy forming up and killing the second wave of demons. He tried spears of darkness, rain of death, hellish swamp, and even curses. None of them broke through the cat’s enormous mental resistance.

  Using a cloud of darkness as cover, R’Ilmir flew down and used a dragon breath at almost point-blank range. Everything within twenty-five meters died in the first few seconds. However, what the demon didn’t know was that LJ could feel movement anywhere closer than thirty meters, and so he knew the enemy was closing in. The dragon breath barely singed him. In reply, however, LJ hurled two brilliant light spears in an attempt to rob his assailant of his ability to fly. He was at least partially successful. One spear completely destroyed a wing; the second was blocked by the demon’s magic shield. He’s so strong!

  Ra’Ilmir started whispering again, and that wasn’t going to mean anything good. But a dwarf hammer smashed through his shield to interrupt the spawn of Hell’s spell. That distracted him for a couple of seconds, and the demon didn’t see LJ get around behind him. The cat ran noiselessly, using any cover he could find. Time slowed, and the demon was all LJ could see. A second went by, and his target started looking around in an attempt to find the cat. By the third second, he’d turned around and met LJ’s glance. The cat’s heart pounded.

  Dragon breath! Maximum!

  LJ poured all his mana into the attack, almost killing himself from the recoil. Ra’Ilmir, on the other hand, did lose his head—it was simply swept off by the powerful stream of fire. The attack did almost 20000000 damage, and the demon’s natural resistance wasn’t enough to save him.

  The players regrouped and went on the offensive, the mages taking the high ground and starting to shell their targets while the close-combat fighters got to work. LJ’s help was no longer needed, which was good—he didn’t care anymore. All he’d wanted to do was keep the tree and tavern safe. They needed to stay in one piece so Milisandra would come back.

  He took the sword with him to give to Arkham, otherwise the innkeeper would stop selling him food.

  LJ ran over to his tree. His enormous strength and agility, coupled with his amplification and the buff, enabled him to get up the smooth trunk without much problem, and he set to work putting out the fire in the branches. Without even realizing it, he used an air fist to smother the flames.

  It took him three hours to put out the fire. The crown had taken lots of damage, though the tree itself survived the attack.

  For a few days, LJ sat on one of the highest branches and thanked the tree for its help. The poor cat really did feel sincerely grateful. His memory had come back a little, and LJ was starting to think of himself as a very smart feline. In fact, he had realized that the appreciation he showed the tree and the help he gave the animals was nothing other than Life Magic. Still, he thanked the tree. Nothing had changed in how he felt about the place. He was still a cat who was grateful to the tree and wanted to pay it back.

  Each of those three days were spent lying there watching the tavern door. He was exhausted, mostly mentally, from the difficult battle and the voices that had formed a chorus in his head. Sleeping was even harder—the bloody world and war stayed in his dreams to scare him. When LJ was asleep, he was just as full of rage, wrath, and panic as the other red people. He did everything he could to run away from the red giants with naked skulls, though there was always a different enemy disguised as a human waiting for him. All the poor cat could do was run and hide in a peaceful forest where nobody would look for him. Every time LJ ran there, he realized that he’d forgotten something very important. Whatever it was, it made him human, was everything to him. Every day, LJ understood things a little more clearly, though his way out was laced with pain.

  LJ didn’t come down out of his tree for a whole week. The city guard rescinded the charges for the attack and started guarding the tree, letting nobody by except the owner of the tavern. The cat tossed the sword down, though he continued sitting on the very edge of a branch with sadness in his eyes. In the evenings, the innkeeper came out to tell him that his companion hadn’t arrived, speaking to nobody in particular but knowing that LJ was listening carefully. The cat did nothing besides eat and lie there. He was sad, though he didn’t know why. His heart hurt, and he wanted to cry, but that didn’t help.

  On the tenth night, the sky was clear, the moon distinct around the few clouds. It was absolutely quiet—even the guards watching the destroyed wall had fallen asleep, their snores heard by LJ a good two hundred meters away. Suddenly, he realized that something living had appeared in the field under the tree. LJ knew it was a great being who could sense him and knew exactly where he was. Even the air glowed, а light tingling sensation running through the cat’s body. It was familiar and unpleasant, a sensation that drew rage.

  It was a hundred and fifty meters to the ground, so LJ didn’t risk jumping. Instead, he dashed over to the base of the branch and started climbing down.

  A glowing deer stood in the pitch darkness. It had two pairs of antlers, and it was both as small as a doe and as large as a warlord. The grass under its hooves shone and grew quickly—even by itself, the deer was a great place of strength. He stood there as if the moon shone on nothing but him.

  Changeling, Azami, ???, great natural divinity

  The deer said nothing, just releasing delight and gratitude. He liked the tree, he knew the cat helped the animals, he was aware of the other animals buried around the edge of the field, and he certainly knew of justice for all animals and the law of the strongest. He was the greatest, wisest creature LJ had ever met.

  You have an offer to be reborn as a natural god

  The Keeper of the World’s Forests has weighed your labor and strength, finding you worthy. You can become one of the natural gods of the world, the keeper of this forest and the surrounding lands.

  Accept: Yes/No

  A god?! Disgust, rage, anger, and pain were the only associations the offer summoned. LJ shook his head, his emotions and the expression on his face saying what he thought of the gods.

  The deer removed the offer and tried to sort through what LJ was feeling, watching him closely. LJ liked the tree, though he didn’t want to become a god, and was even disgusted by them. Azami understood and found a different solution.

  You have an offer to become Altar Keeper for the Nameless Divinity

  Thanks to the contribution you have made to the support and development of nature, yo
u received an offer to become keeper of the altar. The destiny of the nameless divinity is to provide aid to plants and animals.

  Your responsibilities: Maintain the integrity of the altar and help everyone who petitions the nameless divinity for assistance.

  Your reward: When needed, you can receive divine help in the altar’s area of influence. The stronger the altar, the better the help you will receive.

  Accept: Yes/No

  The reward revolted LJ, and Azami took it away. LJ was just going to take care of the tree without receiving anything in return. He liked it, he was able to pay for the tree’s shelter and help, and the agreement was just a formality. The poor cat was already doing it without Azami’s offer, after all.

  LJ agreed, though Azami didn’t leave. Instead, he continued standing there listing to LJ’s emotions. The silent conversation between the two beings went on for several minutes, both beyond what normal people could understand. Emotions, belief, meaning, precepts, promises, truth, and the evil side that neither of them wanted to think about. Azami sensed and understood everything LJ wanted to express via his emotions. For his part, the cat climbed back up into the tree and laid down in the spot he’d left a few minutes before.

  LJ could sense that Azami was reading his emotions and checking to see how sincere he was. The cat had nothing to hide, however, so he just took it in his stride.