Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1)

by Christopher Johns

I got materials from her body: 10 Lightning Roc Bones, 30 LR Feathers, 5 LR Talons, 20 Lightning Ore, 10 Lightning essence and the last was something new.

  Lightning Roc Astral Adaptor

  +6 to attacks.

  Lowers mana cost of mana weapons and adds Lightning elemental damage to pure mana at will.

  Lightning Rocs have protected the skies above the Lightning Mountains for generations. Their weapons are rare but powerful. Use them with respect.

  I walked out calling to Yohsuke, holding the weapon out as I approached. It was much the same as his current one. The handle looked to be made of bone, and there was yellow leather the color of her feathers. The cord wrapped around the handle had three small feathers dangling from it. It was beautiful.

  “Duuuuuuuuuude,” he whispered. I handed it to him, and he held it aloft. “YES!”

  “All yours, brother.”

  He closed his eyes, and I saw the pure Astral leap to life as a sword. He opened his eyes and then grinned broadly.

  “This changes everything.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Check it out.” He held the blade out in front of him and focused. The blade began to glow yellow, like he held lightning straight from the sky.

  “That’s tight, man!” I said in awe.

  “But wait,” he grinned again, “there’s more!”

  The blade extended from the base of the adaptor and shaped itself to look like a spear.

  “Gonna get me some dragoon action going on, baby!” He laughed in a borderline evil manner.

  I joined him in laughing, and we both turned just in time to see Kayda tucking into her meal of Goblin Ear. Both of us made sounds of disgust, but she looked happy.

  Chapter Nine

  We made it back to the village without incident within a couple of days. At the bottom of the mountain, we called to Melal who gave my friend a ride as he had before. Kayda rode on Yohsuke’s arms where she snuggled in on herself and slept.

  Upon our arrival, Dinnia and Sharo bolted to us from one of the connecting streets to our left on the outskirts of the village. The Druid thanked our helpful Stag and sent him on his way with a casting of Regrowth to ease his aches and tired muscles. I kind of felt like a jerk for having not thought of the idea myself. Noted.

  “I see I had nothing to worry about,” Dinnia said with a smile. “She probably just fell from her nest, right? But why bring her here? Where is her mother?”

  I related my tale to her then—how the Goblins had come for the mother dozens strong and how she had defended her only egg valiantly. I told her about our efforts to speed this one’s birthing process so that she could have a chance. That the chick, Kayda, and I were bonded, and she was my familiar.

  By the time the story was finished, Sharo had slunk off in silence and Dinnia was in tears. She reached for Kayda with a pleading expression, and I let her pick the little bird up. Kayda had grown in size already; she was the size of a small adult chicken now but slightly larger.

  Dinnia closed her eyes and whispered, presumably to the Mother and passed her hands all over the little creature.

  “She may never grow to her full size because of the nature of her incubation,” Dinnia said sadly. “She will grow. She will grow quickly. However, she might stop well before she reaches the majesty her mother held. I just don’t know when that will be or how big she will get for sure.”

  I nodded. “At least she lives.”

  The Druid smiled, bright and cheerful, then hugged me.

  “You did well,” she said. “Thank you.”

  Sharo came out of the forest behind me with a small rodent, a level 1 Field Mouse and held it in his mouth to Kayda. The little bird squawked in delight and snatched the still living Field Mouse into her beak. I think she swallowed before she even finished getting the poor thing into her gullet. She cooed happily and fell asleep.

  Dinnia sat her in my hands, and we continued to walk back toward the square. Yohsuke had left after ensuring that I was cool. He had some cooking to do.

  The elder Druid filled me in on how a familiar worked. Basically, they were a bonded animal, so whenever one of us killed something, both would grow to an extent. I remembered my skill for bonded animals and the blessing I got put the flow of EXP going both ways at fifty percent which seemed to be well above the norm according to Dinnia. I guess even Mother Nature was trying to help the gods stack the odds in our favor. I thought our luck had been too good lately. I kept that to myself—didn’t want to seem like I didn’t appreciate it.

  The higher level she was and the more she ate, the faster she would grow. There was also a familiar screen in my display now that allowed me to look over her stats, of which she had none, surprisingly. Dinnia assured me that upon her first level, Kayda’s stats would reveal themselves and I’d be able to move her attribute points accordingly.

  I looked into my inventory because I wanted to talk to her about the items I had gotten from the adult Roc, but Dinnia had no idea what any of it was.

  I took the deep-sleeping Kayda up to my room and left her on my bed. There was a good chance she wouldn’t notice my absence for a while, and with our bond, I could always check on her.

  I went back to my place at the forge. Rowland was busy with his work, and Balmur and Jaken were gone.

  “I came by to check on you the other day, but you were gone,” a small, wizened voice came from behind me.

  An older Gnome with grey, balding hair over storm-grey eyes on a serious and wrinkled face stared at me. Tarron Dillingsley looked unimpressed as he always did when he was around me. The man had made the same faces when he started trying to teach me how to enchant items—seemingly deciding without any effort that I was a waste of time. He walked in wearing his usual brown tights and flamboyant green blouse this time and an oak walking staff.

  The white wooden staff was a lovely thing, covered in a single stripe of metal spiraling from a cap at the base to the top handle portion. The metal had runes engraved throughout it. It was his enchanted weapon, from what I could see. Where it was beautiful, he was not.

  “I gather you’ve been out gallivanting and wasting your time killing things, like a savage?” he said in a dismissive tone. “Really, I can see that you would be frustrated with your lack of talent, but hard work pays more than doing nothing, young man.”

  Now, I’ve never been one to be disrespectful to the elderly, and I’ve never wanted to hit a Gnome, but this guy was asking for it. I know I shouldn’t expect special treatment from everyone for what we were brought here to do, and I didn’t. These people had prayed to their gods fervently to be able host us, to have them bring us here. The least he could do was appreciate my trying to learn his skill.

  “I got a special quest,” I said simply. Then a thought struck me. “Do you know any lightning enchantments?”

  He snorted and pointed at me. “You can’t even master fire, yet you want to try lightning? Sure, stubborn boy.” He pulled a scroll out and tossed it at my feet. “I will supervise you electrocuting yourself, and when you do, you can find a new instructor, maybe one who’s talents aren’t wasted on you and this piss-poor village.”

  I picked up the scroll and read it. The words made no sense to me, but the knowledge surged into my mind and took hold. I could recall how to do it like I’d grown up doing it. Like breathing.

  Abilities Learned!

  Lightning Enchanting – Give accessories, weapons and gear aspects of elemental lightning.

  I reached into my mind for the embodiment of my mental energies, mana. I then thought of what lightning meant. The swift, arcing currents of energy that can fry a human with ease. The static that collects just before a strike. Searing heat that was there for mere seconds then gone. I held those thoughts in mind and reached for an ingot.

  I grabbed what was closest and began to push my mana into the metal but not a steady push like I had tried with the fire. I let my mana become like the element itself, striking the metal like lightning. It
etched my will into the metal, giving it the property that came to mind first. When I felt it take, I closed the flow of mana.

  I checked what was in my hand and saw that it wasn’t an ingot; it was a mallet. I looked over and saw that the pile of ingots was still there, but the Gnome was standing closer to me and had a cruel smirk.

  “Well, let’s see what havoc you’ve wrought on that poor instrument you’ve stolen from our blacksmith,” he said smugly and took the tool from me.

  “He didn’t steal a thing, ye spineless, beardless old goat of a Gnome,” growled Rowland from the doorway behind my other instructor. The blacksmith walked over and snatched the mallet from the Gnome and looked it over.

  “Look over yer work, lad.” He passed the object to me and then turned to glare at the Gnome.

  I looked at the item and smiled.

  Thunder Mallet

  +1 to Smithing.

  Imbued with quick-flashing heat, this hammer crashes into metal with the power of elemental lightning.

  Enchanted by Apprentice Enchanter Zekiel Erebos.

  “Only plus one, though?” I groaned, defeated.

  “Tell him, ye old prune, afor’ I do and beat ye for it.” Rowland growled and stepped menacingly toward the old, surly Gnome.

  “You did better than any apprentice I would have had in the city,” the Gnome admitted grudgingly.

  “AND?” The Dwarf was closer now, his hands flexing, and I was pretty sure I saw a vein bulging in his neck.

  “And nothing!” he shouted. “He’s lazy, puts in no effort, and understands nothing! He was off playing at being a hero with his worthless friend rather than perfecting the craft I was brought here to waste on him!”

  My heart pounded, and my blood began to boil. I leapt to my feet and began to stalk forward. He stood his ground, and that made me angrier. I lunged as fast as my dexterity allowed and caught him by the front of his pompous blouse. I picked him up so that he was eye level with me.

  “Say what you please about me,” I growled—actually growled, I think my beast was starting to peak out at the little man, “but if you ever dare to speak poorly of any of my friends in my presence again, I will personally throw you to the wolves outside this village. Do we have an understanding?”

  “You don’t scare me, whelp,” he whispered back menacingly. “You and your weak band of miscreants have no right to be here. It should have been our kind, the true people of this world, to save it. You and yours should just go back to whatever disgusting hole you crawled out from.”

  One second I was holding the tiny man, and the next, he was flying through the door and Rowland was howling after him in a fury. The mallet I had enchanted in his hand, he flew after the offender and hit him as Rowland kept coming.

  “Ye will no longer be welcome in this forge, Tarron Dillingsley,” the blacksmith roared. “Ye did what ye had to by order of the Goddess and are free to leave when ye please, but I will not suffer slander against these good folks!”

  The Gnome slumped forward and stood slowly. The wall he had crashed into had no sign of damage, but the Gnome was bloodied. The hammer had hit the staff and done nothing.

  “I will say and feel as I please,” he cried. “Nothing you or any of the other backward hicks of this village, will ever stop that. I will leave, and I will do what I can for our world as is right!” He made to leave and winced in pain.

  I hadn’t noticed due to my anger, but I had a throbbing headache; all I could feel from Kayda was a burning rage. I felt her presence in my mind growing, like she was getting closer, but I didn’t know how that would happen with her in our room.

  I heard a small screech, like the hawks that I used to hear when I was a kid, and a blue blur sped toward me from the direction of the inn. I was wrong. I guess the little blue bird wasn’t so little anymore after all. She was about the same size of a hawk, her wingspan almost forty inches. Her feathers were no longer the fuzzy mess they had been; they were sleek and looked strong. Azure lightning roiled off her body angrily as she came to a halt a foot or so away from me. She seemed confused by the scene but noticed I didn’t appear hurt so she calmed down a little.

  Kayda fluttered over and perched herself on my left shoulder, little blue sparks of electricity playing over her feathers like wind. She screeched angrily at the little Gnome, and I got the picture from her. She could feel what I was thinking, and she knew I was upset and that he had pissed me off. This seemed to only piss her off more, so she stretched her wings out and ruffled her feathers at him in challenge. If her wing hadn’t been in front of my face almost slapping me, I may have been impressed.

  “I suppose that little beast is the reason you were missing?” the Gnome asked imperiously. “A likely excuse. Probably stole it from its mother after killing her, poor thing.”

  “You know what?” I said at last. “I can accept that you think that I’m worthless because you feel powerless and unimportant for once. I can also accept that, in your own way, you think that you should be able to try and solve your own issues. It’s commendable, really. But I’m nowhere near the evil or disgusting person you think I am. Kayda’s mother and I spent hours pressing lightning into her only egg to ensure that at least one of her babies would live after a Goblin raiding party attacked. If you don’t believe me? Cool, I don’t give a shit. I’ll find another trainer, and anyone who knows the skill will most likely know of you, right?”

  The Gnome nodded. “And they would do well to remember the greatest enchanter this side of the world.”

  “Outstanding!” I shouted jubilantly. I startled both Tarron and Kayda. “Then they will know exactly who I mean when I tell them that the great Tarron Dillingsley half-assed his job training someone out of spite. That even he wasn’t good enough to teach me.”

  By now I was closer to the diminutive man. I knelt so I could be a little closer to him. I needed him to feel the gravity of my words.

  “You don’t want to train me?” I asked softly. “Fine. I’ll find someone who can, the right way, and I’ll be sure to study hard so that I’m better than you. Go away, you little shit stain of a man. Your self-important presence is no longer required.”

  I raised a hand and dismissively cast Regrowth on the little asshole as I shooed him away.

  “Yer a good man, Zeke.” Rowland clapped me on the shoulder that wasn’t occupied by a preening bird. “I’d have let him limp away to lick his wounds. Ye healed him and injured his pride. I’d watch for that one.”

  He went over to the wall where the mallet had fallen. He scooped it into his hand and walked back.

  “Ye mind if I use this?” he asked.

  “Of course!” I smiled and clapped him on the arm. “Least I could do for you sticking up for the party. I also had some materials I wanted to show you to see if you could do anything with them.”

  I showed the craftsman the goods I’d mentioned, and he said that he didn’t have the skill to work these kinds of materials.

  “I’ve got kin everywhere, and they smith better than I do, so they can help ye if ye like.” He smiled. “Just let me know where ye’ll be going, and I’ll see to it.”

  I smiled back and thanked him again. Kayda was still resting on my shoulder. I could feel how tired she was through our bond and decided to go ahead and call it a night. We would go back to the inn and see about some food.

  Chapter Ten

  My friends were already waiting at the inn when I came in. The group was complementing our Spell Blade on his cooking, as usual. When Kayda and I sat down, the conversation came to a halt. Everyone had questions and wanted to touch her or pet her. Yohsuke was smiling quietly.

  Yohsuke and I spent a bit recounting our adventure, my Grey Elf friend filling in details I missed. The bird flew over to him when he produced some food for her, and he patted her affectionately.

  “When did she get bigger, man?” He motioned at her.

  “A little bit ago,” I said. “I left her in my room to sleep and went to practice e
nchanting. Tarron pissed me off and some shit went down. She came swooping in like this a few minutes after the worst of it. She looked like she was ready to shock the hell out of him.”

  “What did he do?” Jaken asked around a mouthful of food.

  “He talked some mess about the people I care about and didn’t care to do his duty for his people,” I said.

  I related the events to them as they had happened. Being who they are, they couldn’t care less. If you didn’t like them, they didn’t care because you obviously didn’t matter. What pissed them off was his flippant dismissal of my abilities and his unwillingness to teach.

  Sure, he didn’t have to do it. Free will worked like that, but he willingly came here rather than letting someone else answer the call. What a dick.

  See, the way Sir Dillon had explained it was that Radiance had put together a list of what she thought might be needed for us to get our start back when she and her siblings had heard that War was gunning for their world. After they had gotten a few generals in, they acted on that and the people in this village’s wish to host us. Trainers came in from all over who heard the call to act. This included crafting trainers, at least those good enough to pass on their skills well. Then they collected their champions, us, and brought them to this learning-rich environment to hopefully stand a chance. Instead of saying no, Tarron came and fucked it up. Now I would be significantly left behind as my friends continued to work on their crafts, but at least I could go and find another trainer. I hoped.

  Kayda fluttered her wings at my doubt and eyed me reassuringly. I would practice what I knew so far and try to help her level as we waited for news on our next destination. I slept fitfully that night as I worried about our future.

  The next morning, I woke up and went straight to the forge to practice. This time I took Kayda along. Last night, I saw that she had broken my window escaping my room, and I didn’t want to irk our host with another Houdini act. She cooed happily as she rode on my shoulder. More than a few of the villagers admired her as we walked through the square. A few of the braver ones actually came to her and tried to touch her. The first few she allowed, as these ones were children. The last one, a large man with calloused hands, attempted to pick her up off my shoulder claiming that animals loved him.