Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1)

by Christopher Johns

  The wolf was too consumed by its desire to kill me to really care about the axe, so I got my hit in; bad news was that it wasn’t the cutting edge. The back portion of the axe clocked the wolf in the head, and it went down in a heap. With it stunned and laying there helpless, I lined myself up for my original shot. I brought the axe down with all my might, and the wolf’s life bar dropped to nothing.

  25 EXP gained.

  I felt bad for the poor creature, but I knew there was nothing that could be done. Maybe if my friends and I could get those darkies out of the castle, the wildlife would return to normal here. The wolf didn’t drop anything but experience. I was okay with that. I just wanted to let him rest in peace.

  I turned, and there were three more sets of eyes watching me—none of them belonged to Dinnia and Sharo. Three more Insane Wolves came from the bushes in front of me—all level 2 and at the same health as the first. Shit, this was gonna hurt.

  They lunged together, and all I could think to do was to drop as they jumped.

  Shit.

  As soon as they got within my range, they were already mid leap, so I dropped onto my back and brought the blade of my axe to bear. I caught the middle one in the stomach on its way over. The axe went deeper than I thought it might, and the muscle and flesh caught the lip at the bottom of the weapon wrenching it out of my hands. Shit, shit, shit…

  I rolled to my feet just in time to dodge the one on my right, but lefty got me on my forearm as I set my feet. The pain was very real. It hurt like hell, and it threw me over the edge of my calm. I roared angrily and gouged my thumb into the crazy animal’s right eye until I felt it give, and the beast let go.

  I scrambled back a bit to try and create some room, but they stalked forward. I settled for keeping them in my line of sight and shapeshifted into my panther form. I roared angrily and barreled my way to them. The one with my axe still in his stomach was on the ground dazed and only had about sixty percent HP left, so I started with him. I dropped onto him with both my front paws and started to batter him. Each smack of my paw brought him down about fifteen percent; four swipes put him out of the fight.

  The other two tried to harass me while my back was turned—nipping and biting at me—but they never did anything more than five percent of my health. Between that and the bite I took earlier, I was sitting at seventy percent or so. I donkey kicked one in its eye, and it flew against a tree with a crash and a yelp. His health bar was still above his head at around twenty-five percent, but he didn’t seem to be able to get up.

  The other wolf tried to take advantage of the distraction by attempting to leap onto my back. He got a good bite in, and that pushed me further off the deep end. I was at sixty percent now, and I started to buck as he scrambled to find purchase. After another couple of rough shakes, the little mongrel fell off me, and I fell onto him. My teeth dug into the back of his neck, and I bashed him with my right paw until I heard a loud crack; his body went limp. I turned to go for the one that lay crumpled at the base of the tree. It was attempting to stand, but couldn’t. I must’ve shattered its spine, but it didn’t matter. It would pay for angering me.

  I pounced one last time and landed both of my forepaws on his throat, crushing it and killing the lame animal.

  75 EXP and 10 Copper gained.

  New Abilities Unlocked.

  Feral Rage – Fall into a murderous rage when in combat. Damage received halved, bonus 50% damage dealt. Ability ends upon exiting combat. Requirements: Animal Form and 20% or more damage received in one blow. Cooldown: 1 Hour.

  CONGRATULATIONS!

  LEVEL UP! Level 2. You have 5 unspent attribute points.

  I smiled to myself as the rage slowly drained away a bit at a time. Maybe it didn’t leave all at once. Maybe that was in case the fight wasn’t truly over? I’d ask Dinnia in a minute. I needed to level myself.

  In the last fight, I had seen that I was doing well enough. My strength was pretty high, and for my level, I probably had pretty good health.

  After a moment, I decided to add one point to strength and two points to dexterity and constitution which left my stats looking a little more rounded. If I played my cards right, I would be a force to be reckoned with. Time would tell. I felt a difference immediately. I felt a little lighter and stronger.

  Name: Zekiel Erebos

  Race: Kitsune

  Level: 2

  Strength: 16

  Dexterity: 14

  Constitution: 17

  Intelligence: 16

  Wisdom: 13

  Charisma: 15

  Unspent Attribute Points: 0

  I groaned as the soreness from the pain came back. I sat down against a tree and waited for Dinnia to show herself. A moment later, she came out of the trees to my left. I hadn’t even felt her presence or any kind of indicator she had been there.

  "You could have stepped in," I said softly.

  I could’ve died in that fight. If I died here, was I going to die permanently? Shit. No one had thought to ask that question when we came here. This was something to ask the Lady if she ever graced us with her presence again. Maybe the Paladin would know?

  "Yes, but what would you have learned?" she asked as she sat beside me. "You wouldn’t have learned what you were capable of. You would have gone into every fight with the thought that someone will always be available to help you which is not the case. You have two of the greatest weapons known to this world—intelligence and will."

  She was right, of course. I couldn’t rely on everyone all the time. Did I have a party? Sure, but what if we were outnumbered and couldn’t get to each other? What if we got separated?

  Too many what ifs… I had to be the weapon, just like in the Corps. We are strong alone and strongest together, but Gods help anyone in the way of a Marine and his brothers and sisters.

  "That’s fair," I said at last. "I leveled up. Got Feral Rage too."

  She looked at me sharply. "Already? How? What happened?"

  I filled her in, and she nodded but still looked concerned. "That’s a higher level ability usually only earned at level 10 or so, and you are correct—it stays in case there is something else that needs killing. You are a strange one. Once you ascend to level 3, I might be able to see about teaching you some spells that I know. Onto the next fight."

  After failing to become a wolf, she informed me it was because they were no longer natural beasts. Something about being tainted by War’s Generals or their minions made them dead to nature. The poor bastards.

  We traveled a short distance away and found a similar scene: more wolves and more wolves killed. The same over and over again. Nine wolves later, I made it to level 3.

  This time, I focused more on constitution and wisdom. I increased constitution by three to put me at twenty overall and I added two to wisdom putting me at fifteen. I wasn’t using mana yet, but I wanted to be ready when I did. My shapeshifting ability didn’t take any mana at all, so I was golden for now. I hadn’t received any spells that would take my mana, but I had hoped I would be able to learn one now that I was level 3.

  Let’s see how this works, I thought as I looked through my notifications.

  Abilities unlocked

  Frozen Dagger – Summon and throw a blade of solid ice. Explodes upon impact. Cost: 5 mana. No cooldown.

  Nature’s Voice – Converse with all animals. Duration: 60 minutes. Cost: 40 mana. No cooldown.

  I smiled at the sight of my first spells.

  Dinnia had some spells she could teach me at my level so she opened her own menu, and after fiddling with some buttons or settings, a screen popped up in front of me. It looked to be the list of spells she knew. Sweet. That meant my friends and I could show each other our abilities. I’d have to ask her to show me how to do that.

  Filgus’ Flaming Blade – Summon a sword made of pure flame. Deals additional fire damage. Sheds light up to 20 feet. Duration: 10 minutes. Cost: 20 mana. 30 second cooldown. Dispelled when dropped.

  Lightning
Bolt – Summon and shoot a lightning bolt up to 60 feet. Damage boosted on armored enemies. Cost: 25 mana. 1 minute cooldown.

  Regrowth – Boosts natural health regeneration. Heals target for 3 health per second. Duration: 30 seconds. Cost: 30 mana. 10 second cooldown.

  “You can choose between those three,” Dinnia explained. “I’ll teach it to you, and then we can rest for the night. The sun is setting.”

  I hadn’t noticed the dimming crimson light coming through the scattered tree branches and leaves. It was beautiful. I turned my mind back to the spells. Druids, by nature, always seemed to hit hard with their spells before resorting to fighting directly via a shape-shifted animal form. Is that where I wanted my utility to lay, though—being ordinary?

  Hmm. For now, I could try these spells out and specialize later. Besides, these could help me decide, right?

  Filgus’ Flaming Blade looked interesting. I’d lost my weapon once already in a fight, but then again, I was already a potent weapon on my own.

  Lightning Bolt… I mean, come on, need I say more?!

  The regen spell looked nice, too. Part of the reason a Druid was so powerful was their versatility. They could both heal and deal damage. Three HP per second for thirty seconds? That was almost half my health at ninety HP, all said and done.

  With a Paladin in our party, I imagined we would have some decent healing, but the capability never hurt… right?

  “Do Druids get a lot of healing spells?” I asked.

  “Some rely heavily on the arcane to heal others,” Dinnia answered. “I only know the one, but that is simply because I only use that one and have opted for other spells as I got stronger. I learned this one around level 6.”

  Okay, so I didn’t have to learn it just yet.

  I indicated my choice by tapping Lightning Bolt.

  “Oh, an elemental caster huh?” She laughed. “Prepare yourself, then.”

  She came over to me and brought her hands up to my temples. I felt immense pressure and had to fight the urge to drop to my knees. I didn’t fight too hard, I guess, because once the pressure eased, I did just that.

  “It gets easier,” Dinnia said as her panther friend came over to nudge me and purr reassuringly.

  I stood and realized that I knew the spell. It was as simple as trying to call out to a friend, like I had known it all my life.

  “Don’t do it.” Dinnia had realized I was about to try it. I blushed a bit and nodded. It could wait.

  We spent the night in a tree nearby. I slept in my panther form, which was odd but seemed to be a normal thing for my trainer and Sharo. It was nice.

  Chapter Four

  The next morning, we had a breakfast of berries and water—light fare but flavorful and filling.

  After traveling a couple of miles, I began to catch the sound of running water, and I was rewarded with the sight of a waterfall an hour later.

  It was beautiful. The waterfall crashed into a lake with rocks at the base that broke the flow of water as it spread, minimizing the waves. This allowed the sun’s reflection to gloss over it, making it look as smooth as glass far from the pouring water. The lake itself looked to be guarded by moss-covered rocks along the water’s edge, perfect places to fish if you were into that kind of thing. Aside from the crash of the waterfall, the place was serene. Birds called to each other in the branches overhead, and I could even see some large fish swimming under the crystalline waters.

  “Why are we here?” I asked Dinnia, still shocked by the wonder I felt.

  “Training,” she said as she stifled a yawn. She went over to a tree nearest the water’s edge and began to meditate, while Sharo didn’t even try. He just laid down near the water and started to nap.

  A few minutes later, a small bear cub—a grizzly bear cub according to the little name bar—wandered to the side of the lake. It snuffled the water and started lapping it up greedily. I watched in silence. It looked so cute. It must have weighed around fifty to sixty pounds, brown fur gleaming softly in the light. It romped and played at the edge of the water, attacking the lake and causing ripples to expand out, disturbing the glasslike surface. Fish scattered in fear, but the little thing carried on in its play.

  The little bundle of fur and energy played its way over close to us. It sniffed at Sharo, then nudged Dinnia playfully before turning to walk in my direction.

  The cub sniffed at me from about six feet away. I decided it was time to try one of my abilities. I thought about using it and triggered Nature’s Voice. I felt a slight pull from the center of my being, and my mana drained by the cost of the spell.

  “Hello, little one,” I said softly as I reached out to her. She sniffed again and sneezed in surprise.

  “Are you a bear?!” she asked excitedly. She barreled into me as fast as she could and knocked me over. I was wrong—around eighty pounds.

  I laughed as we wrestled a little. “No, I’m not a bear.”

  “How do you speak like a bear?” She looked at me quizzically. “Strangest not-bear I’ve ever seen.”

  “Have you seen many not-bears, cub?” asked a deep, masculine voice. Sharo had wandered over and was looking at the cub like an indulgent uncle.

  “No, Sharo, I haven’t,” she huffed. “What is he? He smells like home.”

  “He is a Druid,” explained a lighter voice behind me. I turned to see the golden-brown eyes of a fully grown bear behind me less than six inches from my head.

  I bolted upright and tripped over Sharo as I tried to backpedal. It wasn’t pretty when I dropped onto my backside.

  “Ah!” Sharo swatted at me from where he was and whined, “That was my tail! Kyra, you sneaky thing, do you have to tease the baby?”

  The bear laughed and sat down. The ground shook a bit; she must have weighed a good thousand pounds. The cub squealed with glee and jumped toward the larger bear.

  “You know I cannot help myself, Sharo,” she said as she turned her massive head my way. “Well met, young Druid. My apologies for startling you, but that is part of why you are here, I suspect. Right, sister?”

  Dinnia nodded and leaned back, content to let the bear explain.

  “You are here because you lack the instincts inherent to the shapes you take. The Druid is a powerful fighter and magician, but only some have what it takes to master the way of beasts, to truly meld with their feral side. I am here to try and bring it out of you.” She stood and bustled my way with her cub in tow.

  “How will we be doing that?”

  “The easiest way is to allow instinct to take over and one of the best ways to do so is to fight. Cubs and other young animals learn to trust their abilities through play fighting with each other and their parents. You would not have had these valuable lessons, obviously, so that is what we are going to attempt to replicate today. I see that you are level 3. That is good; it may help.” She stood on her hind legs, and her full eight-foot height was impressive. I didn’t want to fight her, especially not in front of her cub.

  Kyra eyed me in amusement and then roared so loud the flecks of spittle that flew from her jaws reached me from four feet away.

  I prepared myself for the worst, dropping into a battle stance, hands out and legs parted with my knees bent.

  “You won’t be fighting her,” said Sharo. “You’ll see who when she comes.”

  Moments later, the bushes off to my left split, and a monstrous black bear shot through—teeth bared to the world and searching for a threat.

  “Auntie Marin!” The cub shot forward. The bear visibly relaxed. I looked at her health bar and saw her name change from Black Dire Bear level 5 to Marin level 5. A dire bear? Wow. She was huge! Her black fur glistened in the light.

  “Hello, little cub,” she growled at the bundle of playfulness. “You called for me, my queen?”

  Queen?! Sure enough, Kyra’s name changed to Bear Queen Kyra level 12. Holy shit, I had been ready to fight an opponent four times my level. Wow. That was stupid; maybe I should make checking that inf
ormation a priority? Yeah. That will be a priority in future encounters.

  “Yes.” She tilted her head at me. “We needed a skilled fighter for the young Druid here to spar with. Care to help?”

  “If my queen wills it. Although, I haven’t been feeling well today for some reason.”

  “I see. Maybe Dinnia can help?” the queen suggested.

  Dinnia raised her hand, and a green aura sprung to life around the larger bear. You could see some of the strain leave her features.

  “Thank you, Lady Dinnia,” Marin said as she approached me.

  “Shift your shape, young Druid,” the queen said as she sat back down and called her cub to her side.

  I did as I was told and assumed my panther form. Then out of nowhere, Marin went on the offensive. She swung her massive right paw at my head, and I ducked back just in time. And that’s how it went. She would attack; I would defend or dodge. I could tell she was trying to hold back.

  “Good, little Druid,” the queen praised. “Now, feel your body’s natural responses. Let your mind open up to Nature and Her glories, and she will show you the way.”

  I wasn’t quite certain what she meant, but I tried to be open minded. I heard the tree branches and leaves swaying in the breeze. I felt the earth beneath my feet and the thudding of my opponent’s paws. It felt right. I lifted my nose to the air and scented the breeze. Trees, grass, moss, water and the scent of small prey animals wafted into my olfactory glands, and I could almost separate each one from the other like it was the easiest thing to do.