Cryo Knight

by Tim Johnson

  The first thing he saw was Sulfur to his side. Behind him were another six of his men; the archer, the Viking and a few others, stood beside buckets of training weapons.

  Christian looked down into the fighting pit and saw the witch. She was hunched over in her rags in the center like a baited bear. There was a stake in the ground near her with the gold chain tied around it. At the back of the pit was a gated door and near that was the witch’s crate, with the door open.

  “Good morning,” Sulfur said walking up to Christian. “I hope you slept well.” Then with a hard shove he pushed Christian off the platform. Christians arms flailed out and he fell back, slamming into the gravel.

  Damage: 2 HP

  Christian’s Health: 98/100

  Christian scrambled up to his feet and pressed his back against the wall, facing the witch.

  The witch was crouched low, her black eyes on him.

  Sulfur was smiling down at him.

  “Don’t look so frightened,” Sulfur said. “It’s get-your-own-back time. Here.” With a quick movement, he dropped Christian an old sword which landed blade-first in the gravel.

  Christian quickly grasped it.

  Simple One-Handed Iron Sword

  Level requirement: 2

  Damage: 16

  “Now,” Sulfur said. “Attack the witch.”

  Quest: Attack the Witch.

  She has done you wrong, but revenge you can reap. Injure, maim or kill the witch of the Red Fist Keep.

  They want me to try and kill her?

  He stared at the witch who seemed to be uncurling from her crouch, with a low growl.

  But something else is going on here… there is some trick.

  Sulfur’s men seemed bemused, looking down at him and seeing his confusion; he heard a few sniggers. The sword was real enough though.

  He stared at the witch, remembering vividly the feeling of the Blight spell as it rotted his skin.

  His ankles were cuffed, separated by about a foot of thick chain, limiting his ability to run and, more importantly, dodge. I am a level 2 against a level 28 Witch. They think I won’t make it close to her. That’s the game here.

  He twirled the sword with one hand.

  But at least I have a weapon in my hand.

  “Remove my leg chains and I’ll give you a show,” he called to Sulfur, daring him in front of the men.

  Sulfur raised an eyebrow and was silent for a moment. “Very well.” He nodded and the key to the leg irons was dropped into the dirt.

  Rain fell in a light pitter-patter.

  Christian took his time un-cuffing his wrists and ankles before throwing the cuffs to one side. He made a show of stretching his legs, facing the wall with his back to the witch. He was half-tempted to try and scale the wall and push the sword through Sulfur’s smirking head. Yet now he understood Sulfur was eight times as strong as he was; he needed to play the long game. That meant earning some respect in this current pissing contest.

  He kept his body loose. He stabbed the sword into the gravel and pretended to stretch out his arm.

  Then he spun, snatched up the sword and charged at the witch.

  The witch was as caught off-guard as was everyone else. She screamed before flicking out her palm. A Fireball sizzled in the rain as it shot towards Christian. He used the exact same techniques as to confuse a sniper, puncturing his sprint with leaping side-steps like he was a quarter-back with the ball. He skidded across the gravel as the Fireball flew over his head. He then stood, sprung up and brought his sword down on the witch.

  The witch took the blow on the forearm, and Christian was amazed the blade didn’t cleave her skinny arm in half. With a twist the witch countered Christian’s blow with a Wind spell, and Christian was flung back at

  an angle. The ground rushed past his face before he met with a painful stop against the wall, losing a quarter of his health.

  Quest: Attack the witch: Success!

  Damn right.

  He slowly stood, winded but not defeated, to murmurs of respect from the soldiers. He saw Sulfur looking down, eyes narrowed and the corner of his lips twitching. He had expected Christian not to make it near her. But I called his bluff and won.

  Just then, the door in the castle walls cracked open and Alexia came through, hooded and bound.

  “Good,” Sulfur said. “The team is all together.” Alexia’s shackles were removed but Sulfur kept Alexia’s hood on.

  With a savage kick, Sulfur booted her off the platform. Alexia’s hands jerked out in mid-air and she let out a scream before slamming into the dirt. She flapped on the ground like a fish trying to pull the hood off. When she did, the first thing she saw was the witch. Her eyes filled with pure horror and she scrambled backwards. She turned and tried to claw her way up the wall.

  “Let me out,” she begged Sulfur.

  Seeing her like this was like a punch in the gut for Christian. She was a civilian and they were mocking her.

  Sulfur’s men roared with laughter. This was the reaction they wanted.

  They didn’t help her. Instead, they dropped an old bow and a few arrows in the dirt.

  “Attack the witch,” Sulfur said to Alexia.

  “Alexia,” Christian called out.

  She turned to face him. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide with panic.

  “It’s okay. I’m here,” Christian said, trying to force a calmness on her. “I’ll distract her. Just get one shot off. That’s all you need to complete the quest.”

  “No talking!” Sulfur shouted.

  Another rumble of thunder. The rain morphed into a cascade that poured down on them in the pit.

  “Now!” Christian called. He charged at an angle, heading behind the witch and guiding her attention away from Alexia.

  Again, the witch readied a spell. A great cone of fire erupted from her hand towards Christian. He flung himself into a dive-roll through the muddy grit and managed to just keep pace, fighting through the flames to stop the blaze from enveloping him entirely.

  You’ve been hit by Fire.

  Damage: 40 HP

  Christian’s Health: 28/100

  Christian was now squarely behind the witch with Alexia safe on the other side. She had picked up the bow.

  Christian ran straight at the witch. Mud splashed with each step.

  Alexia was about to notch an arrow when her wet hands fumbled, and the arrow dropped into the mud.

  The witch flung her next spell at Christian, an Ice-Ball the size of his head.

  Christian had barely time to react. The impact was like being hit with a sledgehammer to the face. He spun into the mud.

  Damage: 20 HP

  Health: 8/100

  60% reduction in damage due to Ice-Affinity.

  His ears rung. Only a red sliver of health remained.

  I won’t go down like this.

  Christian used his sword to get to his feet.

  The witch growled. Behind her, he could see Alexia re-notch the arrow.

  Christian forced his legs into a staggered suicide run as the witch pulled the next spell up into her arms. He saw a red mist converge on her and could smell the sweet rotting stink of a Blight spell.

  This is going to absolutely suck.

  Alexia let her arrow fly. The witch howled. An arrow stuck out from her middle of her back. She turned, unleashing the spell toward Alexia.

  Alexia took the brunt of the Blight spell, choking in the red mist.

  Christian was on the witch, and now he had her exposed back in his sights he tapped into his icy power. Ice Strike, he thought as he brought his sword down. The very air crackled with a cold energy.

  Ice Strike I

  Cost: 25 mana

  Damage Dealt: 24

  The witch screamed and swung around, a spell growing in her palm to finish Christian off. Christian readied himself to die again, but instead the witch was hit with a blast of blue light and flung away, her gold leash shot taut to the other side of the pit.

>   On the parapet, Sulfur lowered his sword. A wisp of vapor danced from the tip.

  Alexia had survived. She staggered back against the wall. The veins in her neck bulged with Blight. She spat a stream of blood onto the ground and tipped her chin up and gave Christian a nod.

  She’s strong.

  “Now I’ll show you how it’s done,” Sulfur said. He leapt down from the platform into the mud.

  Two of Sulfur’s men, an archer and the Viking from the torture room, jumped down to join him.

  “Stand up you old hag!” Sulfur commanded.

  The witch gathered her senses, and, with a circular gesture, her hand sparkled in green. Christian watched as her Health Bar rose from red to full green.

  Sulfur strode towards her.

  The witch threw an Ice-Ball at Sulfur. Sulfur cleaved it in half with his sword, but Christian could see it had still pulled down his health by a large chunk.

  The archer had already worked an angle and loaded up a large arrow. He let the arrow fly and it hit the witch, pinning her against the wall. She fought against the arrow before it dissolved into thin air.

  Another skill?

  That time delay had been critical. Sulfur raised his palm; two fingers made a circle and a magical barrier appeared in front of him as he charged the witch.

  The soldier in Christian couldn’t tear his eyes away, studying how they worked as a perfect team. Behind Sulfur was the Viking, he was using Sulfur as cover, his ax was starting to glow red, charging up some special attack.

  Sulfur landed his first blow on the witch, taking a third of her health. The witch responded, launching a Blizzard Cone from her palm. Sulfur’s barrier seemed to block her magic, though the force of it pushed him back. Maintaining his composure, his boots carved thick tracks in the mud as it froze around him. But the diversion had worked. The Viking had side-stepped the attack and, with the witch distracted, swung his charged ax.

  A pulse of energy burst from the ax and Christian had to shut his eyes. He opened them to see the witch a broken creature in the mud, her health down to the narrowest sliver of red.

  “You’re pathetic,” Sulfur shouted down at her miserable form.

  Sulfur turned slowly and approached Christian with the Viking behind him. Sulfur’s sword was still in his hand. His battle blood up.

  Christian’s grip tightened on his own sword. His drenched, muddy rags clung to his frame in the rain.

  He knew what a man could be like when he was charged up on killing.

  “And that,” Sulfur said, prodding Christian with each word, “is how you defeat a witch.”

  Christian didn’t react to Sulfur’s tone. He knew he was out-matched. With his little demonstration over, Sulfur was just looking for an excuse to kill him again.

  Well, he won’t get that satisfaction from me.

  Sulfur smiled at Christian, mistaking his lack of a reaction for weakness. He waved up at his men surrounding the fighting pit and they cheered.

  Arrogant but formidable, Christian had to admit that much. Level 30 in Valeria meant power and experience. He would need to remember that.

  Sulfur walked past Christian to the grated door at the back of the fighting pit which was pulled open for him.

  Before he left, he turned to Christian and Alexia. “You two, put the witch back in her box. Tomorrow, you go on your first mission. It’s time to level you up properly.”

  Christian and Alexia shared a glance. The veins in her head were still retreating as her body fought off the Blight spell.

  Christian slowly trudged through the rain towards the witch, following the glittering gold chain that snaked through the mud towards her. At least he could spare Alexia this task. The cascade of rain had slowed to a light patter, but it had turned the fighting pit into a mud bowl. The witch was somewhere in her bundle of wet rags. They made her look like a pile of black garbage bags.

  If it wasn’t for being able to see a tiny part of red health, he would have thought she was dead.

  So, playing dead in this world won’t work. Christian thought. That was fine, he wasn’t the play dead type anyway.

  Despite the deluge of rain, he still had to cover his mouth as he got close to the witch. It hadn’t managed to wash her thick stench away. Almost gagging, he bent down and grabbed one of her limp wrists.

  That’s when he got a closer look at her unconscious face. He could see that beneath the grime she was perhaps younger than he first thought. Maybe early forties. The cruel scars across her nose and cheek had aged and defaced her but she may even have been a good-looking woman once.

  He couldn’t help but wonder who had done this to her and why.

  That’s when the witch’s eyes snapped open.

  Her hand latched onto his wrist and she kicked out at Christian’s leg. Caught by surprise, he fell on-top of her and within a fraction of a second, she had rolled on top of him. Before Christian knew it, he was underneath her. Face-to face, her stinking rags over them both.

  “Don’t fight me,” she hissed.

  Christian jerked, but even this witch had more strength than he did.

  She grasped his face. “You look so much like him.”

  “Who?”

  “The Artificer,” she whispered. Then her voice morphed to a deep, demonic growl. “Break my chains. Set me free. Find the Golden Shears. You must—”

  “Get off him!” Alexia cried.

  The witch was suddenly gone, dragged off along the mud. Beyond, Christian could see Alexia had pulled the witch off him using the chain. The chain bit into the witch over and over as she thrashed in the mud, crackling and fizzing as it touched her skin.

  The witch scrambled to her feet, hands raised in supplication. She scowled at Alexia and slowly backed away with a guttural, clicking growl, retreating into the darkness of her cage.

  Alexia dropped the chain and ran over to Christian while more of Sulfur’s men dropped down into the pit to secure the witch’s cage.

  Alexia was there as Christian got to his feet. “Are you okay?”

  Christian meant to reply but, in his vision, he could see something which had distracted him completely.

  Quest: Free the Witch from the Kingdom of the Red Fist.

  The witch of the Red Fist pleads, “From this place I must be freed.”

  To help or not you must now decide,

  Is she good? Or full of lies?

  Be careful, for there’s no way to know,

  If she be an ally or a dreadful foe.

  Items required:

  Key to Red Fist dungeon

  Pair of Golden Shears

  Items required to make Golden Shears:

  1 x Golden Ingot

  1 x Celestial Diamond

  1 x Regular Shears

  1 x Level 4 Soul Crystal

  10

  Back in his room, Christian pressed against the cold bars in his small window.

  He hadn’t responded to Alexia in the fighting pit.

  She seemed to wait for him to say something, like he would have an escape plan cooked up, but her shoulders sagged at his silence. Then Sark’s men had descended on them. They had been hooded, shackled and thrown back in their cells.

  He should have run from Sulfur back at the inn. He might have died, but Alexia would have been free. He had let his ego get in the way and that had got her caught up in this.

  I thought I could kill Sulfur easily; how wrong I was…

  The sun set over snow-capped mountains in the distance. They weren’t dissimilar to the Altai Mountains he’d fought in before. They made him think of his friend, Spencer.

  Spencer had come up in the military with Christian and whereas Christian was serious, Spencer was a perpetual joker and wise-cracked his way through their many adventures.

  Spencer had been with him in their deployment to the Altai. He’d been the first to notice the change in Christian, at first teasing him about his obvious affections for Iryna and then realizing it was serious.

  Th
eir final memory struck Christian like an icepick to his chest.

  Spencer’s face. Starved and sinewy. He was sitting in the snow, his back against a tree, a limp arm covering the wound in his torso. Rifle lost.

  They’d tried so hard to finish the fight, but there had just been too many of them.

  “Go to her,” Spencer had said. “Get her out. Live.”

  And that’s where Christian had left him. He left his best friend to die in the snow, alone.

  Christian blinked the memory away and returned to the cot in his cell, the links in his shackles clinking as he went.

  Goddammit, Spencer, I’m sorry.

  He wished he still had a friend like that.

  His eyelids drooped heavily. He didn’t know exactly what tomorrow would bring. Sulfur had said it was time to ‘level them up’.

  He laid down on the cot. His last thoughts of being wrapped in the stinking witch’s cloak and the way she touched his face.

  How did she know my uncle?

  Despite the looming questions, sleep was soon upon him.

  The shunt of the bolt in his cell door woke him up. Christian instinctively reached under his pillow to snatch a non-existent weapon. He sat bolt upright to see Sulfur enter the room flanked by two soldiers.

  The first was Kari, the Ranger. The other soldier was Kit, the Samurai who had been in the torture room. He wore a full-face helmet mask, etched into a sinister snarling smile. He was narrow and slightly built; Christian had the feeling he was damn good with that katana on his back.

  “Wakey, wakey,” Sulfur said. “I’d say get dressed, but you seem to have slept in your clothes, which is a rather disgusting habit.”

  “What do you want?” Christian said.

  “Well, good morning to you too. Take off your shackles.” He threw a set of keys at Christian. Christian cautiously unclasped his ankle and wrist braces. He stretched his arms apart and his shoulders cracked with relief.