Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1)

by Christopher Johns

  Then I caught another scent. One that felt… unnatural. It made my fur stand on end, and bile rose into my throat unbidden. This scent was wrong. Very wrong. It made the world around me feel weird, and I could hear the forest fall still and silent around me. Then I felt it, that thing that had caused me to feel this horrifying sense of being unclean.

  A pack of Insane Wolves burst into our makeshift arena. Marin lost her mind and dove for the three closest Wolves. She swatted at the one to her right and bowled it into the two behind it.

  The cub screamed in surprise and hid beside her mother. Dinnia and Sharo would have helped us, but it seemed they had their hands full with a pack that had sprung out near them. There were about twenty Wolves around the lakeside.

  I tucked into the attackers nearest me. I brought my left paw down onto one of them and unleashed hell. It brought him down to about fifty percent after all was said and done. They were all level 1 or 2, but they had the advantage of numbers. I felt my fur stand on end and jumped straight up a good six feet—just in time, as a wolf sailed through where I had been and snapped into the wolf I had been fighting.

  I dove into the two before they could untangle and dispatched the injured one, then turned on the other attacker. I snatched it up with my jaws and tossed it into the oncoming Wolves. I needed to move, or I would be surrounded; that was no good to anyone.

  I looked around, saw a thicker tree branch, and leapt for it. I clambered onto it and shifted back to my natural fox-man.

  “I’m going to start casting my spells,” I shouted to the others. I didn’t receive any response, but I had to trust that they had heard.

  I held my hand out to point at a Wolf trying to sneak up on Marin and cast Lightning Bolt. My mana dropped by another twenty-five. So far, I had managed to eat my way through sixty-five MP out of my one hundred sixty MP. Time to test my other spell then get back into the fray .

  I began slinging Ice Knives like it was the cool thing to do. No pun intended. I had managed to throw a good seven and killed a few more Wolves when I saw a few break from around Sharo and Dinnia and go for the queen. They were joined by a couple from our group, too. They made a dash for the queen and her cub.

  I shifted again and roared as loud as I could. I tensed my legs hard as possible and pushed off the branch with all my might. I hit the group like a dark, angry shooting star. Teeth and claws flashed again and again. One of the wolves got me good on my right shoulder as another one got the opposite flank. It took me down by twenty-five percent.

  Good, I thought. I let Feral Rage take me and ravaged the wolves around me.

  I was death incarnate. I spun into one Wolf, breaking its neck with a paw to the temple, then took the eye of the Wolf next to it in the same swing and flick of my powerful wrist. The other three Wolves backed down for a moment to regroup. They came at me together but never made it. Marin slammed into the flank of the right one and killed their momentum. The one in the middle tripped, and I fell on it instantly. Sharp claws on my powerfully built back legs dug into its stomach with almost sickening glee. It yelped and flailed, but I pushed my paw into its throat and gripped before kicking my legs like I would to wipe the dirt off on a carpet. It yelped again, and I could feel the viscera and gore fleck my hide and flee the body beneath me. Deciding to end my fun, I sank my teeth into its neck. The Insane Wolf died with my teeth in its throat. I looked for my next victim.

  Dinnia and Sharo finished their attackers then rushed to our aid. Once the final Wolf had been dispatched, we took a quick assessment of the damage. I had only lost about forty percent of my health in that battle, and Sharo looked a little rough, but he was healing thanks to Regrowth cast by Dinnia. She cast the same spell on me when all seemed clear, and I shifted back, my rage abating.

  The fight had only lasted a little while, maybe a few minutes.

  “You did well, young Druid,” Marin said through heaving breaths. She didn’t look too hot. Dinnia tried to cast Regrowth on her, but it didn’t seem to stick. Once again, I caught the stink of something unclean, and it was originating from her.

  “No!” The cub began to cry. She came over to the huge black bear and tried to rub against her, but Marin wasn’t having it. She swatted at her and brushed her back to her mother.

  “I am fading,” she said in a pained voice. “My queen, please.”

  Kyra looked away, obviously in pain. Dinnia and Sharo sat in stoic silence.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “She has been infected by the dark ones,” the cub mewled. “She’s asking to leave our lands before it’s too late, but it seems it already is.”

  “Can we stop it?” I asked in spite of the scent accosting my nose. I had always had a soft spot for sick animals, and Marin was a badass; I had no choice but to admit that. She could have easily stomped me in our sparring, but she had held back so I could learn. I looked at my trainer, and she shook her head. My heart sank, and tears began to form in my eyes.

  “Druid, what is your name?” Marin asked softly.

  “I am Zekiel Erebos,” I said back just as softly. I looked up and could tell by the look in her eyes as the name hit her ears what was coming—my heart sank further into the pit of my stomach.

  “Give me a warrior’s death, please, Zekiel,” she begged as she collapsed. “While I still have my soul.”

  QUEST ALERT: WARRIOR’S LAST BREATH – Offer a noble death in combat to Marin.

  Reward: Unknown.

  Will you accept? Yes/No?

  I sighed inwardly; I knew what she was thinking because I would want the same thing if our roles were reversed.

  I tapped yes and looked at her. Truly looked at her. Her face was accepting, and she must have received a prompt showing my acquiescence to her wishes.

  “Thank you for trying to pass on your knowledge, Marin,” I whispered, fighting back outraged and indignant tears on her behalf. “Fight well.”

  I shapeshifted once more. I was at around ninety percent HP and still recovering, but she was at about fifty-five percent. My panther form coiled to spring; I waited for her to make her move.

  She stood at last and came at me with all she had. I ducked under her blow and felt the wind on my back. I brought her near the tree I had leapt from earlier and used it as a springboard. I jumped off of it and onto Marin’s back. I latched my claws into her shoulders and bit for all I was worth. I took about ten percent of her health before she dropped her weight and me with it. My back legs sailed up, and she swung me loose a bit. I let go and landed safely away before she could swipe at me.

  She turned and growled at me. I growled right back. I wanted her to have her honor, but I wasn’t going to die so that she could have it. We charged into each other. Well, I charged, and she just picked me up and slammed me down like a sack of potatoes. Ouch. That took me down to about eighty percent from the ninety-five percent I had regenerated to.

  A thought came to me, and I shifted out of panther form—not into my fox-like human form but to an actual fox. I had been thinking about it the night before when I went over my stats and abilities. Shapeshifting allowed me to transform into any animal, within reason, and back to my natural form. The fox I turned into now was a natural form for me. I shot between her back legs and shifted again into my Fox-man form. I cast Lightning Bolt on Marin, and a small symbol like a lightning bolt appeared under her health bar. She was at about thirty percent and stunned. I was out of mana at this point or dangerously close to it. Time to get physical.

  I shifted once more and laid into her with my panther claws. At about twenty percent, she was back up and pissed off. A red aura permeated her being, and I could tell she was under some kind of attack boosting buff. She swatted at me, and I couldn’t move fast enough. She caught me in the chin, and my sight blurred for a second. I shifted to fox just as she took another swipe.

  This time, I jumped to her right and under her massive paw. I leapt onto her back and shifted back into a panther. My weight dragged her fo
rward into the tree in front of us, and she fell over the roots. By the time she landed, I was batting at her. My claws sunk in, and even then, she managed to get to her feet one last time after shrugging me aside. Marin was on her last legs. Her health was below five percent.

  She eyed me once more and charged with reckless abandon. I let her come to me, and when she was three feet away, I leapt up and over her. She tried to raise up to catch me, but I had turned my body in the air and clawed her in the side of the head. She couldn’t compensate for the strike and ended up tripping as I landed next to her. With one, then two of my most powerful swings, Marin was no more.

  I hurt and ached like hell, but I wasn’t going to leave her side just yet.

  QUEST COMPLETED: WARRIOR’S LAST BREATH – You have given Marin the death she sought. Reward: Increased reputation with Queen Kyra and her people, Marin’s Pelt, 500 EXP.

  CONGRATULATIONS!

  LEVEL UP! Level 4. You have 5 unspent attribute points.

  There were pressing matters to attend to—the loss of the warrior I just killed to help save her honor and the mourning that everyone might be going through—but I needed a second before I could deal with that. The ache was too familiar—too personal, too close to some of the emotions I had felt once upon a time when I had been younger—so I turned to my stats page for that breathing room.

  I threw a point into intelligence and strength and three into dexterity. It seemed like speed and strength in equal parts would help me greatly if I were to face larger groups again, and now that I had some spells I could use, I would need to be able to deal some damage with those.

  Name: Zekiel Erebos

  Race: Kitsune

  Level: 4

  Strength: 17

  Dexterity: 17

  Constitution: 20

  Intelligence: 17

  Wisdom: 15

  Charisma: 15

  Unspent Attribute Points: 0

  Just like last time, I felt a little lighter when I moved, but overall, my heart ached, my eyes drooped, and my fur was wet under my eyes due to the loss of such an amazing warrior.

  “Thank you, Zekiel,” said Kyra. She walked over to me with her still sniffling cub right on her heels. “You helped her spirit find peace.”

  “Does this happen often?” I asked. “Do animals and creatures get turned like this all the time?”

  “No, it only occurs to creatures who dwell close to the ruins or who venture too close too often. We had to move our patrols away from that area to keep this from happening again, but she must have been going close to the ruins in an attempt to keep us safe. She’s always been gone too often for me to ensure that she used the different routes our warriors travel now. She had always been stubborn about protecting our lands; I should have made her return to us more often. I should have done things differently.”

  She looked down at the body of the Dire Bear and sighed softly. “She must have thought herself immune… I should’ve known she might do these things.”

  The cub came over to Marin’s body and cried on it silently.

  “We need to stop this,” Kyra said at last. “You are here to do just that. Please, will you go to the ruins and cleanse them?”

  QUEST ALERT: JUST LIKE NEW – Queen Kyra has asked you to cleanse the ruins that Dinnia showed you. Reward: 2,000 EXP, status amongst her people for you and those who assist in the quest.

  Will you accept? Yes/no?

  “Of course,” I agreed, without hesitation. “As soon as my friends and I are strong enough, we will go to the ruins and cleanse the darkness.”

  “Thank you,” she said and nodded to me. “You seem to have an easier time adapting to your beasts than most other Druids that I have met. I cannot provide much further aid, other than to tell you to always trust your instincts here. Good luck.”

  With that said, she and her cub left the lakeside.

  Chapter Five

  Over the next few days my training went without incident. By the end of my week with Dinnia and Sharo, after hours of hunting down the infected creatures and destroying them, I reached level 8.

  As I went on and realized how much damage I could do with my spells, I decided to go ahead and round out my stat scores a little more. I bumped up everything but charisma to twenty, then halved the remaining six points I had left between strength and constitution. Sure, I could be a squishy, spell-slinging glass cannon like a lot of the caster archetypes in a few of the games I’d played at home, but that just wasn’t me.

  Dinnia and Sharo joined me on my way back to the village. She informed me that the name of the village was Sunrise. It seemed kind of fitting to have the people who first came here to save their world start in that town.

  Sunrise came into view a couple hours after we left the lake. The air was filled with hustle and bustle of children playing while merchants hawked their warehouse and haggled prices with the shoppers. It was a nice sight after all the destruction and infestation I had been seeing.

  When we reached the tavern, Dinnia and Sharo bid me farewell and left without looking back. I’d miss having the two of them around, but we all knew that they had done what they could to help our merry band on its way.

  The only ones gathered so far were Jaken and I. He looked a lot more buff than when we had last seen each other. We shook hands, and he started telling me about his time training. Apparently, Sir Dillon was a cruel taskmaster. He had the poor Paladin wannabe lifting and working out every morning before taking him to a cemetery nearby to grind and quest.

  He had reached level 8 just this morning after helping heal someone’s lamed horse. He showed me his stat page.

  Name: Jaken Warmecht

  Race: Fae-Orc

  Level: 8

  Strength: 26

  Dexterity: 16

  Constitution: 28

  Intelligence: 12

  Wisdom: 28

  Charisma: 13

  Unspent Attribute Points: 0

  “Why is your intelligence so low?” I asked. If he was going to be healing things, wouldn’t that help? And his spells’ damage would suffer.

  “Intelligence doesn’t mean anything to me, man.” He smiled. “Well, not to my class anyway. Wisdom is the stat associated with being able to heal. My main stats are strength, constitution, and wisdom. Dexterity will just help me move a little faster is all. Not to mention my chosen weapon is the longsword and shield, so I have all that I need.”

  “Chosen weapon?” I asked dreading what was going to be coming. My friend just smiled and told me to share my stats page with him. He congratulated me on my stats and showed me what he was talking about. Just under my abilities tab was a combat tab. Shit. How long had I had this?!

  Jaken must have seen the look on my face because he patted my shoulder. He had me open the tab and I saw right away that I only had three points. He explained that the tab opened and became available at level 5. That was why I hadn’t noticed it. I had been too busy just leveling and grinding to explore my status screen.

  I decided to go through that later and waited with my friend for the rest of our party to return. Next came Bokaj and Balmur. Both looked a little leaner than the last time we saw each other. Our greetings went much the same as mine and Jaken’s. Balmur shared his stats with all of us first while Bokaj went to collect Tmont from outside.

  Name: Balmur

  Race: Azer Dwarf

  Level: 8

  Strength: 15

  Dexterity: 25

  Constitution: 18

  Intelligence: 25

  Wisdom: 10

  Charisma: 13

  Unspent Attribute Points: 0

  “I’m going for a class specialization that my trainer told me about called an arcane trickster. It’s a Rogue who can use some spells. I have a pretty sweet one that I can show you guys later.”

  I wondered what it looked like until I felt something tug on my tail and chomp down. My health went down about ten percent, and I whirled on my attacker. A panther purred at me in
nocently with big eyes.

  “T, you dickbag!” I tackled her to the ground, and we started to wrestle a bit. Tables and chairs scattered. She had grown a lot in the time away; she looked like she weighed half as much as me in my panther form. I looked at her info and saw that she was level 5 in her own right. Nice.

  “Come here, Tmonty!” Bokaj called as he walked through the door. The medium-sized panther sauntered her way over to her master and rubbed herself against his legs. I used my Nature’s Voice spell quickly.

  “Listen here, you little shit, my tail isn’t a chew toy!” I growled at her and took a menacing step forward. “Chew on mine again, and I chew on yours!”

  “I make no promises, Master’s friend,” she purred in a deeper voice than I expected from a cat her size. She paced forward and butted her head against my clenched fist before returning to Bokaj.

  “Woah, man, what was that?” he asked as she sat back down.

  “What was what?”

  “You started growling and snarling just like a panther,” he said. “Were you yelling at T?”

  “A little,” I said with a smile. “I was kind of miffed that she keeps attacking my tail.”

  “You can’t do that, T. That’s not cool, brah.” He stroked the big cat’s chin, and a new round of purring erupted.

  “Wanna share your stats?” Balmur asked.

  “Yeah, man, sure thing.”

  He pulled up his stat screen and sent it our way.

  Name: Bokaj

  Race: Ice Elf

  Level: 9

  Strength: 14

  Dexterity: 30

  Constitution: 25

  Intelligence: 17

  Wisdom: 15

  Charisma: 20

  Unspent Attribute Points: 0

  I had to admit, I was more than a little jealous of his progress and stats. He told us all about how his trainer had come to him and had him help with a quest to take out a local group of monsters. Fish-like creatures had been turned savage by the infestation in the area, and it put him up two levels from that quest alone. The rest of the time they had spent hunting other various fish monsters and animals in that area that had been tainted.