by Dante Steel
Maybe there was another Runed Ruby here or something like that. Gary would love to have a second superpower. Or maybe the wizard could have his magic again. Just because the guy was NPC didn’t mean he couldn’t fight with them, right? Not for the first time, Gary wished he was more knowledgeable about games in general. It was just his luck that the first game he had played would be the one he got trapped in.
“Head far to the west—”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Go west, young man, right?”
Gary shook his head and headed west until his feet ached. Even then, he kept on going. All around him, the landscape was the same. He had traveled so far he couldn’t see the wizard’s tree anymore. All he saw was desert and sand.
Along the way, he found more bats. Seriously, the developers needed to change that because it was overkill.
Walking so far on sand wasn’t fun on Gary’s ankles, and after he climbed a tall sand dune, he hesitated. Down below stretched sand, sand, and more sand.
Before he started to descend, some of the sand shifted and congealed together to form a some kind of a sand goon. Darker sand zoomed through the body to form eyes, nose, and creepy looking lips in the deformed head.
Must be a supervillain.
Gary geared up for a fight. The sand goon slowly lifted its legs to walk toward him, but Gary was impatient. He rushed over to it and slammed his fist through the sand goon’s face. Although there was some resistance from the head, sand flew everywhere, and the sand man collapsed.
Wary, Gary hesitated, expecting the sand goon to come back to life, but it didn’t.
“Not a supervillain after all,” Gary muttered.
He groaned and kept walking. It was past time for Gary to sleep, but more and more enemies were all around him. Some kind of snake with a head on both ends. A basilisk. A massive sand worm. A rooster head with a reptile body. Gary thought that might be called the cockatrice, but he wasn’t sure. It sure was cocky, though. At least he hadn’t come across a Sphinx. He wasn’t in the mood for mind games on top of the life-or-death stuff.
He couldn’t dare risk going to sleep here. He thought about returning to the powerless wizard, but what would be the point? He’d have to come all the way back here tomorrow, and he had no idea how close or far the lost ocean was.
So, Gary fought all of the enemies, slowly gaining experience. One bat did eventually bite him. Honestly, it had only been a matter of time. Gary just took one of the potions he had that actually would cure him. He had ninety-nine more of them. If he didn’t have a means to buy more here… Haru wouldn’t have done that, right? Where the hell was the developer anyhow? Gary hadn’t seen him in ages, and honestly, Gary didn’t like the silence. No new wasn’t bad news, but at this point, Gary would rather get an update about no news than this radio silence.
But Gary wasn’t going to worry about that. In fact, he tried to kill the bats in the most creative ways possible. He tested his abilities and determined that he could send a bat high enough into the air that it would freeze to death. Now that might come in handy, although when the bat was covered in ice, he couldn’t control its descent, and it nearly landed right on top of him. The iced bat slammed into the sand and created a huge divot that sent powder flying everywhere. Gary coughed and gagged, covering his nose and mouth with the crook of his arm. At least the creatures were affected by the sandstorm too. He recovered first and killed them all.
By the time Gary was certain he had been walking for over an entire day despite the lack of a sun rising or a change in the depressive, gloomy darkness above him, he was beyond ready for a nap. There weren’t any enemies here, so maybe he could risk sitting and letting himself doze off.
But then, over the horizon, he spied something heading his way. It had no true form, and it wasn’t until it was covering him that he realized what it was.
A legit sandstorm.
Gary fell to the ground, covering his face. Sand swept over him in a terrible wave. The breeze was wicked and oppressive, the heat immense, and Gary knew he couldn’t attempt to walk through it. Even with his arms covering his face, he was still pelted with the gravel, the particles striking him so hard it felt as if they might be leaving tiny welts.
Gradually, the storm abated, and Gary had to struggle to get onto his knees and then to stand. The amount of sand on his back was impressive. Sand was heavier than he would’ve thought.
He continued on. The number of enemies had dropped off, so maybe he was heading in the wrong direction. He hadn’t thought that possible, but then again, it was hard to judge west from east from north and south when there wasn’t a sun, and no moss since there wasn’t anywhere for it to grow. What if he was heading east instead? He’d never find the lost ocean at this point. It’d stay lost forever and ever, and what was the point of completing the quest? For gold or some armor or weapon? It was ridiculous. He should just find shelter of some kind and settle down and make the best of living here in Vampire War.
But, no. Gary wasn’t about to give up and besides, there wasn’t anything he could use to make a shelter anyhow.
The more he continued on without having enemies to face, the lonelier Gary became. Where the hell was Elena? Hadn’t she come over? Had he been wrong to cross over without finding her first?
He desperately wanted to locate her, but how could he? This place was huge, and he was lost.
Maybe he should head back to where the countless hordes of enemies had been. That had to be the right path. Quests were never easy.
Gary turned to go back but felt that backtrack was wrong. He faced forward in time to see a dark funnel descend from the clouds above him. Sand swirled all around him in a tunnel that was heading straight for him.
He broke out into a run, his fatigue going away instantly, but whenever he glanced over his shoulder, the sand tunnel had changed directions, specifically hunting him down.
He tried to block it by having sand rise up like a shield, but the tunnel merely took that sand and added to its power.
Gradually, Gary whirled around and stripped sand away from the funnel, but it was too little, too late. The funnel swallowed him up, and he spun and spun. He grew so dizzy he was afraid he would vomit. It took him several minutes to get used to being spun around, and he managed to use his power to strip the sand away bit by bit, but then more came anyhow. He had to worry about the wind, not the sand.
Stopping the wind was harder, but Gary pulled and teased the wind. Controlling something you couldn’t see was nearly impossible, but he managed to send a slight breeze away, and the funnel slowed ever so slightly. Again and again, Gary pushed the wind away, separated draughts from the funnel until all that remained was a strong gust that blew the sand away as Gary collapsed to the dune on his rump.
That had been so intense that Gary just wanted to stay there. He didn’t, though, standing. He was so dizzy he didn’t attempt a step for five minutes, and he fell anyhow.
Maybe he slept some because the next thing he knew, he was ready to walk. He continued onward, no notion as to which way was he was heading. His bearing was entirely fucked up because of the sand tornado.
Gradually, though, Gary spied a sand dune that had lighter sand than the rest of the area. Something was different here, and different usually meant either something good or something bad.
Investigate or no? Might as well.
He used his powers to push the sand away. Soon, two walls of sand were high.
I’m the Moses of sand instead of water.
But that was when he did see water. At the bottom of the hill was a tiny bit of water.
The lost ocean? But that was barely too mouthfuls!
Gary pushed more and more sand aside and even fell to his knees to shovel the sand away. More and more water appeared, and then before him, somehow, part of the desert faded away, and all he saw was a small pond of vibrant blue water. Above him was some light, although he couldn’t see a source of the illumination.
When he dropped his g
aze back to the water, he spied a beautiful woman in the waves. She was visible from the waist up, naked, her boobs perfectly round and massive. Her face was perfect, almost too perfect, her lips bright red, her nose slim, her skin tanned.
“Hello, adventurer,” she said in a soft, lyrical voice.
“Is this the lost ocean?” he asked.
“It is.” She nodded. “Won’t you join me in the waters?”
“Aren’t you supposed to give me another quest?” he asked.
“Yes, in time. First, let’s swim. We can race. I haven’t had anyone to race with in some time.” She laid back on the water, floating, her boobs sticking straight up. Her nipples were so hard, and so was Gary’s cock. He shouldn’t want her. She was just a part of the game, but there was no way that any red-blooded guy could see her and not be turned on unless he was gay.
“I don’t think I’m up for a swim,” he muttered.
“No?” She swam over to him, somehow keeping her boobs above the water the entire time. “You don’t want to race? What do you want to do?”
Was it his imagination, or had her gaze fallen to his bulge? That was impossible. She was an NPC. She… She mustn’t be the mermaid after all. She was the siren, and she was trying to lure him to his death.
Gary grimaced. Of course. His cock had gotten him into so much hot water with the women he loved, and now, his cock had almost gotten him killed because of the siren. How the hell was he supposed to kill her, and where was the mermaid?
Chapter Nine
Gary tried to think about everything he knew about sirens. Didn’t they sing? They loved to lure men to watery graves. He was certain about that even before the wizard’s warning. He doubted the mermaid could drown.
“Come in the water,” she said. “I can help you.”
“Help me?”
“I can make all of your dreams come true,” she whispered.
“You don’t know anything about me. You don’t know my dreams.”
She giggled and touched her boobs. “You are a male. Every male wants to lay with a mermaid.”
“You…” He didn’t want to say that she was a siren. That she didn’t realize that he knew could only be to his advantage.
What the hell kind of game was this, though? Gary sure as hell hoped kids weren’t playing it. Come to think of it, he did think the game was rated M for mature. Good. Then again, he was sure a ton of teenagers were playing, young ones, and if this issue was made available to the general public, Gary was sure a ton of guys would die at the hands of the siren because she really did look close to the perfect woman.
She came right up to the water’s edge, inches from him, pressing her hands to the sand and lifting up, thrusting out her perfect boobs.
“Go ahead and touch,” she said. “I haven’t felt a man’s hands on my body in so long.”
“I bet you say that to all the guys.”
She tilted her head to the side. “There aren’t any other guys here beside you. Please. Come here. Come to me.”
Gary knelt down and touched her face. He had to admit that a part of him did want to touch her boobs, but he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed the back of her neck with his other hand, squeezing, but he wasn’t trying to choke her to death. He merely wanted to hold her in place as he slammed half of the sand wall directly on top of her and most importantly into her mouth and nose.
The siren jerked, trying to get free, her face twisting into something unspeakably ugly and terrifying. Her veins turned black, and her body seemed to age until she had nothing but sad flaps of flesh for what had once been her mesmerizing boobs.
And then, she continued to grow even older until she dissolved into dust, at least the human half of her body. The fin turned into sea foam, and she was no more.
Gary banished the sand away from the water. Now what? He needed to find the mermaid, but he wasn’t sure where she might be.
Leaving his clothes on but first removing his boots, Gary descended into the water after all. He wasn’t a great swimmer, but he could tread water easily enough.
Just then, something brushed against his leg. He jerked, nearly falling into the water, and then a head appeared. The woman’s hair was bright, golden yellow, not blond but more colorful than that. Her eyes were teal, and she looked young, maybe sixteen.
“Hello, adventurer! I am Nissa, the mermaid. Thank you for saving these waters from that terrible siren!”
“Is this the lost ocean?” he asked.
“What is left of it.” Nissa lowered her head in sorrow but then smiled. “I have a quest for you.”
“Lay it on me.”
“Far to the south is a volcano. The Fire God, Pyronus, plans to cause the volcano to erupt. You must defeat him!”
Gary rubbed the back of his neck. The water was a perfect temperature, but he felt rather cold. “Uh, don’t vampires hate fire? Maybe the volcano erupting isn’t such a terrible thing.”
“The volcano is so high and tall and powerful that the entire world will be covered in ash. The waters, what few sources of them that are left, will be all be destroyed. You will die.”
“That sounds… lovely. Great. Okay. Volcano God. Check. Then do I come back to you or…”
“Save the world, adventurer. Maybe because of your actions, this barren wasteland can once more teem with life.”
“That won’t happen with vampires around.”
She nodded. “Which is why you will one day have to kill them all. I know you can rise to the occasion and become the superhero this world needs!”
“What happened to make this land so—”
The mermaid had already dove into the water and was swimming away.
“—barren?” he finished with a sigh. “Maybe powerless wizard knows, not that I expect it’ll be easy to get a straight answer out of him. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’m just wanting to make sense of everything since my life is such a mess. Maybe I should stop talking to myself.”
Gary swam out of the water, grabbed his boots, and started walking. The heat bore down on him, and the darkness quickly descended the farther from the lost ocean he went. Once he was dry, he put his boots back on and headed southward.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem to take a long time to go far enough to see the volcano in the distance. Even more wonderful was the fact that he seemed to have renewed energy, and he wasn’t hungry or thirsty. Maybe the ocean waters had revived him.
Above the volcano was a bright red color that tinged the darkness above it. There was some light here, nothing compared to the bright of day where the lost ocean had been. Still, it was a welcome sight compared to all of the blackness around him.
Before Gary could take another step, a man with dark skin stood before him. More like towered over him. The guy was at least eight feet tall, and he was built like a body builder. He wore no shirt, and tattoos covered his muscles. All he wore was a small loin cloth that barely covered his unmentionables. Gary didn’t look there for long.
The man’s face was gnarled, old, his eyes as dark as coals. His hair was a fiery red-orange color.
“Oh, God of Fire,” Gary said. “Nice to meet you.”
“You will die. My volcano will erupt and bury this land and—”
“Yeah, because everyone wants to rule over a large piece of volcanic ash. Seems kinda boring to me. If I were you, I would have fireballs rain down from the sky and kill off all of the vampires. Then, this entire place could be yours and yours alone.”
“I do not care about the vampires. They leave me be. You are here. You will die.”
And the Fire God held out his hand. A massive fireball the size of Gary burst out.
Gary barely had time to jump out of the way, but already another enormous fireball was heading his way.
He couldn’t just avoid all of them. There had to be a way to kill the Fire God, but how?
Gary darted and dashed out of the way of five more fireballs. One nearly singed him, and the heat from each as they blew by was alm
ost enough to catch Gary on fire. With a wild yell, he raced toward the Fire God as if he wanted to rail him like a lineman in football. At the last second, he halted and brought up a wall of sand. Sand versus fire, Gary wasn’t sure which would win, but he shoved the sand back and back and back, and the fireball didn’t make it through.
Out of the corner of his eye, Gary spied the Fire God. He had changed positions and was ready to send another fireball Gary’s way. Gary set up another wall of sand and three more, effectively putting the Fire God into a box of sand.
But the Fire God merely laughed and somehow rose above it. He floated over toward Gary, and Gary realized he wasn’t flying after all. He was standing on a platform of fire, the column of fire extending to touch the ground.
Oh, crap. This wasn’t going to be fun.
For five minutes, Gary tried to stay alive while attempting to come up with a plan, and then, he had it.
“Too late,” the Fire God shouted with a laugh. “It won’t be much longer until my volcano is ready to blast this entire world into a new age!”
“The Age of Ashes ain’t gonna happen, bud,” Gary said.
Gary gathered up the sand as he had before, but this time, he caused it to move, to circle, to spin faster and faster until his own sand tornado formed. He slammed his creation into the fire column, and now, his was that of fiery sand.
The Fire God collapsed and immediately jumped to his feet. He tried to take control away from the fiery sand twister because of the nature of the flames, but Gary merely sped up the tornado’s spinning so that the fire was blown out.
Then, although the tornado was becoming difficult to control, Gary managed to suck up the Fire God. The deity tried to cast his fire, but Gary wouldn’t let him, spinning the funnel even faster now.
It took everything in Gary to force the twister toward the volcano. It wasn’t easy, and several times, the funnel fell back down. Finally, Gary managed. The tornado reached the highest portion of the volcano, and Gary forced the particles to stop spinning, to be just sand without wind, and the sand, a ton of it, all flooded down onto the volcano.