“Remember me, bitch?!” Jaken roared. I stood just in time to see his whole body shaded in red. Rowan had eyes only for him at that moment.
Drop his ass! I roared to my friends. The image of that poor little boy jumped into my mind, and my vision tinged red for a heartbeat before I leapt into the air.
Jaken surged forward and hit the mage with his shield. A small sliver of health left his bar. Maybe two percent. This was gonna be rough. I hit him like a freight train. Storm Caller smacked right into his back with all my strength, and he stumbled forward, bouncing off my friend’s shield once more. That did a paltry three percent. I noticed a slight glow around his body, and I knew I was right.
He has wards for damage guys. Be cautious.
We know it, asshole. Yohsuke laughed at me. Shut up and swing that axe.
“Dick,” I said to both my best friend and the asshole in front of me.
“That’s hardly appropriate language for a dog,” Rowan sneered.
“Oh, I’ll show you a dog,” I seethed. “I’m gonna make you pay for what you did to that kid.”
“We all will!” Balmur cried. He came out of stealth behind the man sandwiched between the rock and a furry place and slashed the hell out of his back, his Mountain Fangs twirling almost as fast as saws. Blood began to show where the Azer Dwarf struck, faster and faster.
“Enough!” Rowan pushed out with his hands, and a force like a tidal wave hit us all and pushed us back and onto our backs. The health I lost left me a little angry, but ten percent was manageable.
Bokaj was there instantly, raining down a hail of arrows that would have left Robin Hood himself feeling a little envious. Sparks flew from where they hit and bounced off. Some disintegrated upon impact, but the damage was stacking slowly. His distraction gave Jaken time to stand and get back in there. Yohsuke sent a javelin of Hellfire at Rowan’s exposed back. It hit, and the resulting cry of rage and pain was like music to my ears.
I let Kayda out to play, and as soon as she saw the asshole, she dropped a Lightning Bolt right onto his head. More points gone. He was down to about eighty percent of his total health now, and I could hear shuffling behind me.
I risked a glance and was rewarded with the sight of another three townsfolk moving toward us.
“We got company!” Balmur shouted before stepping into shadows behind him. A bolt of flame followed him, but he was already gone.
I threw Storm Caller at the folks behind me, and the weapon slammed one into another behind it. They went down in a heap. Balmur was there as soon as they landed to finish those two off, and arrows sprouted from the third. He fell down with a crash, and I called my weapon to me.
A black streak blurred past me, and James was on top of Rowan beating his fists into his head. The asshole was flat on his back with his hands up to try and defend himself, but it wasn’t working too well.
Back up. At least thirty-five feet. It’s time to hammer him. I held up my hand and cast Star Fall on him. While the heavens fell on him and thirty feet around him, I downed a couple of mana potions, and my MP jumped up a little bit. Spell time was over for now, I guessed.
Yohsuke was there with James, stabbing his Astral Spear into the openings as Jaken moved toward Rowan’s legs. Balmur patrolled the areas behind us looking for more puppets, and Bokaj held his shots. I stayed back and tried to watch for any signs.
His health was down to sixty percent when the mage slammed his fists on the ground, and another wave of force pushed my friends away. James ended up flying onto the roof behind me that I had been hiding on. Yoh hit a wall to our right and lost a pretty chunk of his health but was still kicking, and Jaken slid back a few feet because he had braced for it.
The man stood and brushed himself off, as if wiping his sleeves and pants off would hide the fact that his nose was freshly bloodied and he was definitely tussled.
“Enough play,” Rowan growled menacingly.
He held up a hand, and a large bank of storm clouds began gathering above us. Kayda looked up into the sky and banked into the clouds. I tried to call to her but she just took off with a thought sent to me, Save.
If that fucker hurt my baby, death would be a reprieve. He turned toward Jaken who had begun to glow red again, and I took the opportunity to put my great axe away and shift into my Ursolon form. I trundled up behind Rowan and swatted him into the same wall that he’d flung Yoh against. The clouds didn’t disperse when his chanting turned into a gasp, so that must have meant the spell was finished or, at least, that portion of it. He slumped to his knees before the wall, and Yoh started hammering him with his Astral Sword.
Bokaj let arrow after arrow fly into the vulnerable mage. One arced into his body and looked to have an electrical charge, but it didn’t dissolve like mine did. Then a flaming one hit. Two more. The shield that had been around Rowan up until now was beginning to fade, and his health was getting lower. I brought myself to stand in front of him when a bolt of lightning caught me in the stomach and threw me off my feet. It took about ten percent of my health, but that was to set me up for the big show.
I opened my eyes to see a large bolt of lightning arcing through the sky like a laser beam aimed at my chest. Before the beam could hit my body, Kayda intercepted it. She didn’t even flinch. She cried out in anger and angled herself to shoot toward the offending caster. When he was in range, she unloaded her Lightning Ball spell at him that looked like it was empowered from the Lightning she had absorbed. It hit the caster and stuck for a moment before he could dispel it while standing painfully.
That gave Balmur time to fire three more arrows into his body that knocked him to his knees once more.
“Sorry, all, but you really shouldn’t be here. If at first you don’t succeed and all that, right?” He grinned and began a complex casting, and his fingers twitched in time with this words. I had just stood when I felt the familiar lurch of teleportation take me like it had last time, but then it stopped. I stood where I had been, and Rowan’s face was slack.
I lunged forward as Yoh laughed.
“We aren’t going anywhere, asshole,” Yoh sneered, “but you can go to Hell!”
I reached the mage as Balmur appeared behind him. Yoh threw another Hellfire Bolt that struck him in the head, and the man began to scream as the flames stuck to him. Balmur struck then, his Mountain Fangs piercing flesh and bursting into flame. There was a small popping sound, and finally, all was quiet.
The General’s HP had hit zero, but he wasn’t dead—not quite. “Well, I couldn’t send you away, but him? Him I can do. Hell is a new concept, but I wonder how he shall do there.”
He grabbed Balmur, barked a word, and the Dwarf was gone in a cloud of sulfurous smoke.
Afterword
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Author’s Note
Well folks! That brings this book to a screeching halt, and true to form—who would I be if I didn’t have a final word for you all, eh?
I’d be an idiot. Well, a bigger one. Thanks for taking this journey with me and my friends. Thanks for your patience. Thanks for the facepalms and for laughing with us. Or at us—be that way.
But regardless—thank you. I’m beating myself into writing shape trying to get book number two to gods knows how many cranked out for you, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
With all the love I can possibly muster for you—you lovely r
eader, you—I bid you to love each other and pick up another book.
Respectfully, and irreverently,
Zeke
About Christopher Johns
Christopher Johns is a former photojournalist for the United States Marine Corps with published works telling hundreds of other peoples’ stories through word, photo, and even video.
But throughout that time, his editors and superiors had always said that his love of reading fantasy and about worlds of fantastic beauty and horrible power bled into his work. That meant he should write a book.
Well, ta-da!
Chris has been an avid devourer of fantasy and science fiction for more than twenty years and looks forward to sharing that love with his son, his loving fiancée and almost anyone he could ever hope to meet.
Connect with Chris:
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About Mountaindale Press
Dakota and Danielle Krout, a husband and wife team, strive to create as well as publish excellent fantasy and science fiction novels. Self-publishing The Divine Dungeon: Dungeon Born in 2016 transformed their careers from Dakota’s military and programming background and Danielle’s Ph.D. in pharmacology to President and CEO, respectively, of a small press. Their goal is to share their success with other authors and provide captivating fiction to readers with the purpose of solidifying Mountaindale Press as the place ‘Where Fantasy Transforms Reality’.
Connect with Mountaindale Press:
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Mountaindale Press Titles
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The Divine Dungeon by Dakota Krout
The Completionist Chronicles by Dakota Krout
A Touch of Power: Siphon by Jay Boyce
Red Mage: Advent by Xander Boyce
Peaks of Power: Beginnings by Paul Campbell Jr.
Pixel Dust: Party Hard by David Petrie
Coming soon!
Ether Collapse: Equalize by Ryan DeBruyn
Skeleton in Space: Histaff by Andries Louws
Fantasy
Coming soon!
The Lost Sigil: Insurrection by Raymond Beckham and Darius Cook
The Black Knight Trilogy by Christian J. Gilliland
Appendix
The Good
Zekiel Erebos (Zee-key-uhl Air-uh-bows) – Marine who loves gaming as a civilian with his buddies who are still in. Class: Druid. Race: Kitsune, has a tail.
Yohsuke (Yo-s’kay) – Zeke’s best bud/brother from the Marine Corps. Overlord, yeah you read that right. Class: Spell Blade. Race: Abomination (halfbreed Drow and High Elf)
Jaken Warmecht (Jay-ken) – Zeke’s friend who typically needs help catching up in the games the group places together. Class: Paladin of Radiance. Race: Fae-Orc.
Bokaj (Bow-ka-jh) – A friend from the gym who loves video games and is in a pretty wicked band! Class: Ranger. Race: Ice Elf.
Tmont (Tee-M-on-t) – A panther with a taste for tails who happens to not just be a walking bag of assholes but is also Bokaj’s pet. Mainly that first one, though.
Balmur (Ball-mer) – Bokaj’s best friend and another good buddy of Zeke’s who loves to game! Class: Rogue. Race: Azer Dwarf (Fire Dwarf) HIS BEARD IS A FLAME!
James Bautista (Really?) – Another Marine that Yohsuke and Zeke know and game with often. Class: Monk. Race: Dragon Elf.
Kayda (Kay-duh) – A pretty little bird with a shitty past and, hopefully, a bright future.
Locals
Sir Willem Dillon – Owner of the tavern in Sunrise Village (the starter town) and Paladin of Radiance. The first guy the group meets and doesn’t try to kill. (Or do they? MUAHAHAHA—No really, do they?) Jaken’s trainer.
Dinnia (Dih-nee-uh) – An Elven Druid who takes pity on poor Zeke and brings him into Mother Nature’s good graces. Zeke’s trainer.
Sharo (shah-row) – Another panther who assists his partner in crime, Dinnia, in training her student. Not a walking bag of assholes.
Kyra – Queen of the bears and good friend of Dinnia’s. We like her.
Marin (mare-in) – We, uh… we don’t talk about her. 10 out of 10 though. Kick ass dire bear.
Tarron Dillingsley (Tair-run Dill-night-slee) – Gnomish enchanter who—let’s face it, shall we?—sucks as a teacher for various reasons.
Rowland – Blacksmith in Sunrise who decides he likes the travelers, especially the one with the tail—no bias.
Maebe (may-buh—soft buh—if she hears you talking shit, I’m not responsible, yeah?) – Unseelie Queen of Winter and Darkness who somehow gets thrown into the mix.
Thogan (ThO-gun) – Champion of the Unseelie Fae and a rather clingy Dwarf with a rough complexion.
Titania (tih-tah-nia) – Queen of the Seelie Fae who has a predisposition of being a raging bitch to anyone and everyone she doesn’t like. Like outsiders.
Shellica (shell-oh-cuh) – A Dwarven enchanter who, let’s face it, is probably coo coo for Cocoa Puffs.
The Bad
War – Galactic conquerer who probably suffers from only child syndrome. Probably needs a hug, or he will keep trying to take over the universe.
Minions of War – Not the lovable minions everyone loves. You know, not the yellow ones, or that fish from that one Will Ferrell animated move. These guys seek to undermine the strength of the gods by eroding the world around them slowly, and they serve the other assholes in this list.
The Generals – A number of War’s better warriors capable of taking out the strongest people upon the planet—and together they did. Dick move.
Rowan – I’m not gonna say much about this guy—read the book then you’ll know what a dickbag he is.
Pastella (Pahs-tell-uh) – Crazy Elven woman with a taste for torture and violence.
And The Ugly
Insane Wolves – Think crazy wolves, but you know, crazier and angrier for some reason. Due to proximity to a minion of War, the minds of these animals have eroded to nothing but the drive to kill and eat anything that is not them or another wolf.
Undead creatures – As you can imagine, due to proximity to a minion of War, these poor bastards rose from the dead in order to protect their alien masters. Even the stronger versions are worthy of a small bit of sympathy—they sure as hell didn’t get any, but they are worthy of it.
Bone Dragon – I mean, pretty self-explanatory, right? It’s a Bone Dragon! No skin, no muscle—all bleached bones and hate for the living.
General of War (Blight) – The asshole who did some truly terrible things, sent us on a supposedly one-way trip to the Fae realm, and got his ASS kicked. Yeah. That guy.
Ursolon – Think of a giant, striped bear with an anger management issue the size of North Dakota. Yeah. Now go fight one.
Werewolves – The heroes in some tales—but not this one. Oh no. These guys suck, big time! Hairy, needy pieces of crap.
Alpha Werewolf – The jerk in charge of the other jerks above. Bigger, badder, stronger, and usually way more cunning and ruthless.
The Wild Hunt – A flock of assholes (read Demons) who patrol the realm of the Fae and take out anything they believe doesn’t belong there.
And other random jerks too unimportant for now to mention—they know who they are. Bunch of assholes.
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Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1) Page 45