The western border of the Imperium was a good one hundred miles to the east. The Independent City-States were still far to the south.
If anything did live out here, be they human or monster, they were likely going to be hostile. Just as bad as the idea of encountering angry locals, was the thought that if Firesoul fell, the void wyrms would return, and Ajax and the others would be powerless to defend against them.
Ajax sighed. Just face it, we’re fu—
Lillus shook him out of his dark thoughts. “Yana said she can smell werewolves, and thinks there might be a tribe of them living out here.” The Demon Mage’s eyes swept over the dense undergrowth. “And our crash landing might have drawn their attention.”
“Great,” he muttered bitterly. Werewolves were notorious for being strong, cunning and excellent trackers. When they caught you, they would rip you open and eat your guts while you were still alive. Oh, and it got better. The lycanthropes were from the Terror Incognita expansion pack, which had been designed for players between the levels of 10 to 15. Higher than us, Ajax gripped his sword hilt and scanned the trees.
They weren’t something he’d want to meet.
“What about Dawnspark?” He asked. “We need to help her.”
Lillus walked over to the dragon so the beast didn’t have to lift her head to look at her as she spoke. “How do you feel?” Lillus asked.
“Worse than I look,” the dragon replied. “My wing feels like it’s on fire.”
They heard a distant wolf howl. Yana raced up, her wings fluttering.
Ajax bit his lip. “Are they close?”
Yana nodded her head, keeping watch on the dark undergrowth. Night had completely fallen and the moon had yet to rise. Dawnspark lifted her head and groaned. “Leave me, and come back in the morning. I might be up to flying then.” She peered into the star-filled sky. “My beloved fights still, as does his rider. If he can go on, so can I.”
Her head fell back to the ground with a soft thump. “Just not now.”
Ajax put his hand on his sword as another wolf howl came, this time closer than the last. It sounded deeper, more primal than that of any ordinary wolf. The werewolves were definitely out there, perhaps drawn to the noise of their landing, or the flickering lights of the fire from where the void wyrm had fallen.
Lillus turned to him. “We need to go. When morning comes, we’ll come back and check on her.”
“What about the werewolves? They might attack her.”
Dawnspark belched a puff of flame. “They can try.” She grimaced. “Actually, I hope they do. Having a nice, cooked meal would do wonders for my natural healing.” Her lips drew back, revealing her sharp fangs. “I may be weak, but my fire burns just as hot. I will incinerate this entire forest if I have to. Better you get far enough away to escape my breath, as I have a feeling, it’s going to get toasty around here.”
Yana grabbed Lillus by the arm. “Come, mistress, we must go before the lycanthropes get here.”
CHAPTER 18
ATTACK OF THE BRAIN CLAW
THEY FOUND A SMALL cave in which to spend the night. It sheltered them from the falling snow, but not the chill, light breeze (that annoyingly made Ajax’s Flitter Flutter Cloak flutter in the breeze). As the dim light of a full moon lit the star-filled sky, werewolves howled, and in the distance, they heard what could only be drums.
The lycanthropes were known to live in groups, often in crude settlements, but Ajax had no idea they were organized enough to make music. The drums beat to a sophisticated musical rhythm, suggesting an intellect behind the musician. Yet everything written of them in the Visarian World History Encyclopedia (created when Visaria Online had still been a game), said they were primitive brutes that could be farmed for Darke Cloth, a material used in the Journeyman Level Tailoring profession.
Could they have evolved to be smarter since the game rules and systems had been changed to accommodate the human exiles? Were they no longer governed by the same rules they had once lived under?
During the Terror Incognita expansion pack, werewolves had been one of the many NPC types introduced into Visaria Online. They had lived in the now-abandoned expansion pack’s Terror Ridge zone; a deep, dark gothic forest surrounded by steep mountains. But at some stage, the lycanthropes must have migrated out of that area, and headed west to live near the edge of human lands.
Among the players of the Imperium, it was common knowledge remote hamlets of NPCs were plagued by the monsters of Visaria. Sometimes the NPCs issued dynamic quests to players to hunt down and kill these monsters, saving the villagers from whatever menace plagued them. Ajax himself had done one of these quests early on in this life, when he had killed the player Steampunk named Raggamuffen near Hallsford.
But some NPC villages were so remote, they never had players come and defeat the monsters preying on them, because no one had any reason to visit. These werewolves likely fed on NPCs living near the western border of the Imperium, and had done so for years, without the Imperator or players noticing them.
Then again, Ajax wouldn’t put it past the upper echelons of players in the Imperium being aware of the issue, but doing nothing about it, as it only affected NPCs.
Yana got his thoughts out of the clouds by pressing herself against him. “Hold, me Ajax,” she swooned, acting like a damsel in distress. “If I’m to be eaten by monsters, I at least want to die with a smile on my lips and the memory of your strong arms around me.”
“I’m glad you’re back to your old self,” Lillus said. She sat on the other side of Yana, as the succubus had insisted on sitting in the middle.
“I really don’t like flying.” Yana leaned her face on Ajax’s shoulder. “I never want to see the top of the clouds again. My wings take me a few dozen feet off the ground at most, and I’m fine with that. But going up there.” She waved vaguely up into the sky. “Us land dwellers were never meant to go so high.”
“Keep your voice down.” Lillus covered Yana’s mouth, as they heard rustling bushes nearby.
Holding his breath, Ajax slowly drew his sword. If the werewolves had found them, they’d be in trouble. No doubt a fight would draw more of the lycanthropes to their location.
As the sound drew closer, Ajax and the other two crawled out of the cave and stood to prepare themselves for combat.
Suddenly, bright flames rose above the trees in the distance. Then came the roar of a dragon. Dawnspark! They must have found her and tried to attack. If Ajax and the two women were lucky, she’d turn the lot of them into charred toast. For every werewolf she killed, there’d be one less to find them.
Feet hurried through the brush to their right, heading toward the light. It seemed the three had just been spared unwelcome visitors.
Getting back into the cave, they huddled together, hands on weapons. Dawnspark roared, and another jet of flame rose into the air. Werewolves howled in pain and terror.
The battle continued for so long, Ajax began to wonder if an army of lycanthropes marched through the trees. Drums continued to beat in the distance, and bestial howls filled the air, as if the forest itself had come alive to the sound of wolves.
Ajax squeezed his sword hilt. Could they have chosen a worse place to have a crash landing? The only way this could get worse would be if a group of void wraiths or wyrms showed up.
A cold feeling ran up his spine. Yana gripped his hand tightly, as she stared outside the entrance of the cave. It had become so silent, Ajax swore he could hear the succubus’s heart beating. Lillus touched him on the arm. “Something is out there.”
He felt it too. So must Dawnspark and the werewolves. The dragon no longer breathed her fire, and the drums had fallen silent.
What could be out there? The void wyrms? They’d not made him feel the creeping dread he did now.
Something huge blocked out the dim light of the moon. Ajax cautiously leaned forward to look outside the cave. Whatever it was, it flew in the air like a dragon, but was much larger. So large, it alm
ost looked like a huge cloud.
Then something touched the fringes of his mind. It felt like fingers gently touching his brain. At first, there was no force behind the sensation, but then the fingers grew claws that sought to tear open his mind, and dig their way inside.
-45hp
Ajax screamed in agony, clutching at the sides of his head. Lillus and Yana remained where they were, not moving to aid him, almost like they had become statues.
-45hp
Oh, god, the fingers are inside my brain! Ajax screamed in his mind.
-45hp
Fight it, Ajax. Fight it. The voice came to him clearly, though he had no idea if it was his own, or someone else’s.
Fight it, the voice said again. Concentrate. Force it out of your head.
Valeria? For a moment, Ajax thought the voice had belonged to the missing Spirit Mage.
-45hp
-45hp
HP: 122/347
Finally, he could think clearly enough to pop his life-saving Touch of Light. When his hp was back to full, he turned his attention to the claws tearing into his brain. Through the pain and terror, he imagined himself reaching into his own skull to grab hold of them. To his surprise, he felt his fingers touch something cold, wet and soft, like a raw vegetarian sausage.
A hand with long sickle-like claws!
-45hp
Don’t let fear overcome you, Ajax. Focus. Pull the hand out and hurl it away.
Ajax wrapped his fingers around the wrist of whatever creature had tried to pry open his brain. Another voice spoke. You will not defeat us, Chosen One. We are the unmakers. Born of the death of the old world.
The voice was cold, chilling, and filled with the menace of a thousand ghasts. When the day comes, and the Eye is charged, we will hunt you. The Spirit Mage waits for you deep inside our nothingness. Together, you and her will lead us to our unmaking.
With a strength born of pain and desperation, Ajax ripped the hand free and hurled it into the darkness.
Then it felt like water had been thrown in his face. He jolted, and found both Lillus and Yana staring down at him. “Ajax, wake up.” Lillus shook him. “Wake up.”
He blinked. “I’m. Im’a... I’m awake.”
Yana lifted his head and laid wet kisses all over his face. “I thought you were going to die.”
“What happened?” It took some effort for Lillus to hold Yana back. “You started screaming.”
The drums continued to beat in the distance, and Dawnspark’s fire lit the sky. “I don’t know.” He shuddered as he remembered the feel of the fingers clawing deep into his brain.
His hp was still at full, and his Touch of Light wasn’t on cooldown. Ajax buried his head in his hands. It felt so real.
What had attacked him? Would it come back?
What had it meant when it said he and the Spirit Mage would lead them to their unmaking?
CHAPTER 19
LEVEL UP (FINALLY!!!!)
LILLUS DIDN’T SEEM to know what to make of what Ajax told her. “I’ve never heard of this cloud-thing. I felt something out there, but then it seemed to pass on.” She still held him. “Then you collapsed and began convulsing.”
“Maybe it was the void talking to him,” Yana suggested, eyes scanning the darkness suspiciously.
Ajax put his helmet back on. “Valeria spoke to me. I’m sure of it. The cloud said she was trapped deep inside the void.”
“Valeria?” Lillus got a faraway look.
After she was silent for a time, he shook her. “What is it?”
The Demon Mage blinked. “Something the Oracle told me before it sent me to find you. It spoke of a Void Walker who will play an important part in the coming war. I had no idea who it was, or if they were good or evil, as the Oracle said nothing more than that. Perhaps...”
“It meant Valeria.”
Lillus nodded.
“Well, there is nothing we can do to help her right now.” Ajax pictured the Spirit Mage being trapped in a world of gray. A Void Walker. What a horrible fate.
They settled back and waited. The battle between Dawnspark and the werewolves continued for the better part of an hour. Fires raged all around her, and eventually the werewolves were driven back. Over the sound of crackling wood, Ajax could hear guttural voices shouting at one another. Werewolves.
His head still throbbed from the strange daydream (he didn’t know what else to call it), but at least it didn’t feel like there were claws prying open his skull.
Yana had an arm around him, and had refused to let go since he’d come to. Lillus sat on the other side of him, one hand on his leg, the other opening and closing in her lap as she scanned the dark forest outside the front of the cave. The flames seemed to be moving in their direction, but the steadily falling snow would smother the fire long before it reached them.
What would they find come morning? Charred werewolf bones by the hundreds? What if Dawnspark grew too weary to fight, and they fell upon her?
Stop. She is a dragon. Ajax thought of Old Nel dying in the snow. She’s younger than Old Nel, plus she’s a fighter. She won’t let herself die, as long as Firesoul still lives.
But if she did die, how would they get out of here?
Something thudded to the ground at the entrance of the cave. Ajax stiffened. A pair of furry black legs blocked the entrance. They were turned the other way, so perhaps the owner didn’t know they were behind them.
A snorting sound filled the air. Yana dug her claws into Ajax’s chainmail. Lillus slowly raised her hand and readied to cast her Infernal Fire Bolts.
Ajax’s sword rested on his lap already. He cautiously took hold of the hilt.
The legs walked several steps forward, then stopped again. Another set of legs dropped down from above. Two enemies.
Ajax checked out their basic information.
Moon Tribe Warrior
Level 11
HP: 180/180
Moon Tribe Guttersnipe
Level 11
HP: 150/150
Suddenly, the two lycanthropes spun around to face the cave and started growling like dogs.
We’ve been detected! Ajax pulled free of Yana’s grip and started heading out of the cave. Lillus was beside him. As soon as she was out, she cast her first Infernal Fire Bolt at the werewolf warrior. It yelped, as its black coat caught fire and the damage-over-time effect of the fire bolt took a chunk out of its hp.
Ajax clamped his mouth shut as he charged the Guttersnipe. Better they deal with the two enemies as quickly and quietly as they could. There were plenty of other lycanthropes out there, and they would be easily overwhelmed if more showed up.
As he slashed his weapon at the guttersnipe’s belly, the werewolf deftly leapt back, and threw a crude throwing knife at him. The weapon glanced off his armor with a loud ping. No damage done.
Then a noxious smoke rose from where the knife had struck his armor. Keeping his shield up, Ajax glanced down and caught his breath. The damned wolf has acid on its weapons! The acid had eaten away a tiny portion of his metal armor.
The guttersnipe non playable class had to be akin to a Poisoner spec’d rogue.
A moment later, the werewolf warrior flew right past Ajax, knocking his shield aside. Ajax swung around to slash at its back, and took out a chunk of its hp.
Inflicted 34 damage
Yana had caught the warrior with her whip and hauled it in, making it collide with Ajax on its way to her. Lillus cast another of her purple-red fire bolts at the trapped warrior, and it thrashed around on the ground yelping in agony. Leaving the heavily wounded werewolf to the other two, Ajax bore down on the guttersnipe. It bared its fangs at him, a dagger in each hand. Ajax charged and tried to knock it down with his shield, but the lycanthrope easily managed to outpace him. Slashing with one of its daggers, the guttersnipe almost cut into his arm.
As Ajax went to back hand it with his gauntlet, it ducked down, and slashed at his leg.
This time, the weapon found a we
ak spot in Ajax’s armor, and pain shot up his leg.
-56hp (crushing attack)
Great. Crush damage. These things out-leveled him, so extra crush damage had been applied. At least there didn’t seem to be any acid on that weapon. Perhaps, only one of the daggers had been coated in the noxious liquid.
Ajax slashed the air, inches in front of the guttersnipe. Behind it, he caught sight of another werewolf descending on Lillus. The warrior at her feet took its last breath, but the new arrival remained at full health.
Shared kill +100xp
The guttersnipe reached into a pouch at its waist, then flicked its hand at Ajax. Something like sand, hit him in the face, and he became instantly blinded. “Mother fu—”
Pain shot through his stomach, followed by an intense burning.
-122hp (Crushing critical hit)
Afflicted with Scolding Acid
-3hp
-4hp
-3hp
Blinded and in agony! Not a great combination.
Ajax lashed out with his sword, cutting one way then the other, trying to strike his target, but not move anywhere near where he had last seen Lillus or Yana. Becoming breathless, he stopped to listen. Perhaps he could use sound instead.
A moment later, he heard a light footfall to his right. Waiting for two seconds to make sure it wasn’t one of the two women, he decided it must be the guttersnipe. Instantly, he lunged in the direction from where he’d heard the sound. He caught something on the end of his sword, and it let out a high-pitch yelp.
Gotcha!
Inflicted -67 damage.
Enemy impaled
-3hp
-4hp
The guttersnipe wasn’t going anywhere. Ajax grabbed it by the shoulder and drove his sword through the lycanthrope until his hand slammed into its stomach. The werewolf vomited hot blood all over him, but he didn’t care. “You blinded me, you...” He thought he better not try to swear, lest something else come along and interrupt him. “No-good weasel.”
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