She Demon

by A P Gore

  she demon

  BlackFlame Online Book 2

  A.P. Gore

  Patricia Jones

  To My son, who would grow up playing RPGs and RTSs. Like his Dad.

  CurseMancer Copyright © 2018 by A.P. Gore and Patricia Jones. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Table of Contents

  1. Bounty

  2. Reluctance

  3. The Antidote

  4. Merchant

  5. Armor

  6. Herbalism

  7. Rihala

  8. Ice Shot

  9. Final Nail in the coffin

  10. Zombies

  11. Collar

  12. Killing ground

  13. Dark Crystal orb

  14. New Quest

  15. Skeleton House

  16. Sacrifice

  17. Curse Acceleration

  18. Seducing Demon

  19. Past

  20. Goblin Commander

  21. The Promise

  22. Cave of Xamphala

  23. Raining Fireballs

  24. Well of Healing

  25. The Boss

  26. The Kiss

  27. The Quest

  28. Curse of Raise Zombie

  29. Sacrifice

  30. Revenge

  31. Head Man

  32. First Pillar

  33. Town Management

  34. gamisha

  1. Bounty

  Shui

  The air inside the pitch-dark warehouse was still and warm. Shui held his breath, fearing the sound of his breath might wake the boss. But he couldn’t stop his stomach from lurching in hunger. It emitted a loud crack that practically echoed in the empty warehouse. He grabbed his stomach in a futile attempt to stop that noise. Just a few hours back, he had eaten a double ham sandwich. Why was he so hungry now? Was it because of exertion? The dark sewers he’d passed through to get here were quite dangerous.

  Shui stiffened as he heard the rustle of footsteps from the south corner of the hundred-foot-long warehouse. A single ray of light blinked from that corner, illuminating the black dust floating in the air. Shui couldn’t determine the source of the light, but it was enough to let him know that the boss was awake and aware of his presence.

  Shui conjured a heavy light spell, illuminating the warehouse in a bright golden light. The warehouse had been weathered by time. The walls were rough, the floor covered with dust and bones scattered between a few wooden crates. The boss stood at the south corner, chewing on a short wooden stick.

  A quick perception check told Shui that the boss was a level 44 rogue wearing medium light armor and gray pants.

  Shui tapped his ruby-headed unique staff on the ground, sending ripples across the floor. The wave of force traveled from the base of his staff and spread outward in a circle. The wooden crates shifted as the earth below them shook violently. The spell hit the boss, but he was prepared. He stepped into a shadow and vanished.

  Shui had expected this, and he was ready with his next attack: the shadow finder spell. The spell worked on everything, even rogues with expert level stealth skill—which was otherwise impossible to break. The spell emerged from the purple ruby on his staff and spread across the room, banishing the shadows and revealing the dark things lurking within them.

  The boss was a few feet away—too close for Shu’s comfort—when the spell yanked him out of the shadows. But the boss jumped away as soon as he realized his stealth had dropped.

  Smart move. If the rogue had gone through with his dagger attack, Shui’s pinning spell would have captured him and annihilated him. But the rogue anticipated Shui’s move and saved himself from the expert level skill attack.

  Shui rubbed his stomach as he remembered the cheese over his ham sandwich.

  He was about to cast another spell when a purple beam of light illuminated him from above, transporting him to a room with white painted walls and ceiling. He knew this room. This was where he had made a deal with the devil himself.

  “Welcome back, mate. That was disappointing.” The man who called himself Balthazar gazed at him from behind a pair of old-fashioned glasses. Disappointment shone in his eyes as he adjusted his long white robe and sat on the chair across the table from Shui.

  Shui pulled off his unique pink bone helmet and set it on the table. He knew what Balthazar was talking about: his assignment. “This one doesn’t consider it the same.” Shui observed the man’s every movement. He couldn’t let anything slip past; Balthazar was cunning and dangerous. Shui hadn’t met anyone else who could teleport him at will. And the task Balthazar had given him was weird too. If he could teleport Shui so easily, why didn’t he just teleport the target where he wanted them? “You didn’t tell this one about the god’s curse the target had.”

  “It’s called a blessing, mate. And I assumed you would use your sentient ability on the target.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. His protection is something else, and this one couldn’t activate teleportation on him.” Shui shifted his weight on his right leg. The room was pure white, but it still seemed tainted to him. There was something unsettling about all of this. It smelled like a conspiracy. First, he was yanked out of his daily quest into this room a few days back, and the man wearing glasses who smelled like an expensive perfume shop offered him a job and a location. The job was easy, to carry a player using his unique teleportation skill to a desired location. But when he met Noah, the target, he discovered the unexpected complexity of the task. First, Noah seemed too good to be true. The dumb man was fighting for a stupid demon girl. Second, Noah had a curse active on his title, a curse of no teleportation. It was a high-level curse, and Shui had never seen it before. The curse prohibited the target from teleporting anywhere. Shui found out about it when he tried to forcefully teleport Noah, which failed miserably. The resulting debuff had haunted Shui for two days.

  Balthazar's eyes moved, and Shui's body floated in the air. He was thrown back against a wall, pinned there. Pain shot across his limbs, restricting his movements. It was a mind control magic, something rare and only available to high-level sorcerers in the game. Shui knew about it because his level 100 sorcerer mentor had access to the magic and had once demonstrated it to Shui.

  Balthazar zipped through the air and appeared next to Shui in a fraction of a second. “Okay, listen mate. This is a game, and there is a fix for every curse. I repeat: a fix for every curse. Now, find that fix and get that man out of that shitty place as soon as possible. I’m not paying you thirty grand in RL for wasting my time.”

  Shui’s insides contracted, constricted by the force of Balthazar’s psychic ability. The breakfast he ate that morning rose to his throat, giving him the taste of the ham sandwich once again, but this time it wasn't pleasant.

  “This one will try, friend.” Shui spread sugar on his words, hoping to calm down the predator in the room. Balthazar. Shui knew he couldn’t fight with a being that could zap him out of anywhere to an unknown place. When he was here last time, he’d tried to check his map, but no world map appeared on his map screen. It was strange. No location in the whole of BlackFlame Online acted like that. Even
when he’d landed in the undiscovered demon town of Sumara, his map had showed a black cloud. But this location was completely uncharted.

  Baltazar released Shui and folded his hands at his waist, but the threat in his eyes never truly went away. “I suppose you’ve used the pinger I gave you?”

  “Yes. This one has buried the pinger near the town. This one can go there five more times.” The pinger was another surprise, a small unique ring that allowed him to tune his teleportation landing to a certain location. This had never happened before. His teleportation skill was a unique one and didn’t allow him to choose the destination. But now he had 5 charges that he could use to teleport near the town of Sumara, near the expansion site. The fool—Noah—didn’t know what a gold mine he was sitting on. And that wasn’t the only expansion site present in the area, either. There were two more. Again, this was a rare phenomenon he hadn’t seen in the twelve years of his game life. He would have loved to explore one, maybe claim it for himself.

  Maybe sometime in the future.

  Balthazar stood, pushing his ornate metal glasses back on his nose. “Don’t use the pinger unless you find a fix for the curse. The next time I see you, I want results.”

  Shui wanted to ask a question, but before he could open his mouth, he was teleported back to the town square of Ampethia. The square bustled with humans, elves, and so many other races. No one noticed a human dropping from the sky.

  2. Reluctance

  Tia

  Tia stood in the doorway of her dorm room, looking at it one last time. Her favorite white bed sheets with a circle of green flowers in the center decorated her wooden bed. The books she’d checked out from the library lay on the rack next to the bed. She had moved the rack there, so she could read in bed. She wanted to take it with her, but she couldn't. It was academy property. Moving it in her tiny eight-by-eight room wasn’t an issue, but the marks it left on the purple carpet had gotten her in trouble in the first-year inspection. Her brown duffel bag lay on the polished wooden table provided by the academy. From five feet away, she could spot the markings for a game she and Visaka had done on the wooden surface. For fun.

  She sighed, holding back tears. It was a final goodbye. It was time to shoulder her fully packed bag and never look back at the room she’d called home.

  Her favorite song played on her personal wrist computer. Visaka was calling. She must be waiting for her somewhere on campus.

  Tia walked slowly toward the table, inhaling the scent of the room. Everyone despised their dorm rooms because they smelled old and rusty, but not Tia. She loved being here. When she first arrived, her room smelled disgusting, but over the years it changed. Her scent, her friend’s scent, her emotional scent… everything mixed together, making it a perfect blend of smells. Now she would have to say goodbye to it all.

  Before picking up her bag, she traced her fingers over her own name carved on the table’s wooden surface, feeling the smooth edges of the carvings. They were rough when she’d carved it in her first year, but they’d smoothed out much like her life had with the help of her friends.

  “Hey sweetie, are you all right?” A deep, masculine voice pulled her from her thoughts.

  She quickly wiped her tears away with her sleeve, not wanting to show weakness in front of her boyfriend. She turned to face the six-foot-tall mage teacher, Emanuel. He kept a long beard which, she was trying to get him cut—if only he would listen to her for a change.

  “Yes. I miss this room already.”

  “That’s why I joined the mage academy as a teacher.” Emanuel flashed his sugary-sweet smile that melted Tia’s heart, a smile she fell for a few years ago.

  “Don’t lie. You joined it for me.” She raised a brow and looked into his eyes. They’d met in his final year of study at the academy, and their relationship took off. Emanuel had worked as a warrior mage for a couple of years before returning to the mage academy as a teacher.

  “True. That, and that the room they offered me was much better than this shit.” He smirked.

  “I love this room,” she said. He had invited her to live with him. He was working as an assistant teacher, and technically wasn’t her teacher, so they could share the same room. But she preferred staying in her own room. Though tiny, it was her home.

  “Let’s go to Starbuds. I’ve got great news. News I’ve been waiting on for ten years.” Emanuel rushed forward and lifted her bag. “I’m dying to tell you about this.” His words practically ran together. The happiness in his tone was infectious, and it lifted her mood too.

  She spun back and looked at the room for the last time. She was going to miss this. All the late-night parties, study sessions, gossip nights, pajama parties… Everything. “Okay. Let me text Visaka and ask her to meet us at Starbuds.”

  “Is she gonna bring her boyfriend too?” A single crease appeared in Emanuel’s wide forehead.

  She touched his temple, easing his reaction. “Em, relax. They are in love, like us. Why are you so bothered by Richard?” Richard was a… okay guy. Visaka liked him, and that was enough for Tia to trust him. But for some reason, Emanuel despised him.

  She quickly texted Visaka from her wrist PC and left the room before another attack of emotions could hit.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The cafeteria was half full when Tia spotted Visaka walking in. The environment was comfy and casual. No one was rushing to line up in front of the vendors, and most of the students were sitting with their parents; ambient smiles decorated their faces. It was like someone had cast a happy spell on everyone present in the cafeteria, but that spell failed to affect Tia.

  “Hey Ti.” Visaka half hugged Tia and brushed her cheek against hers. As usual, Visaka wore a pristine blue robe with a golden serpent embedded on the left shoulder. It was her royal symbol, the symbol of being a princess of the Spectra 33 planetary system.

  Spectra 33 Princess. Those words brought a hint of jealousy to Tia’s heart, but she shoved it away as fast as the thoughts came to her. Their friendship was much more than this, far beyond any materialistic concerns.

  “Where is Richard?” Tia asked, returning Visaka’s hug.

  “He got some work. Urgent, in his words.” Visaka rolled her eyes. “I don’t know half of the things he does these days. Anyway, what’s the good news you mentioned in the text?”

  Tia turned to face Emanuel, who was already munching on the burger he had ordered. Cheese leaked through the bread plates, and Em licked at it disgustingly. She hated the cheesy smell of the burger, but Em loved it more than he loved her. He always feasted, especially on the homemade food the academy cafeteria served, like he was eating for the first time in life. She leaned on the table, snatched the burger from Em’s hands, and dropped it on the plate. She scowled as some of the hot cheese spilled on her fingers, burning it. It was gummy and disgusting. “What’s your big news? And stop eating like a monkey.”

  Emanuel growled at her, grabbed the burger, and pushed it into his mouth.

  Tia turned to Visaka and signaled her to seat down. She knew Em wouldn’t open his mouth until the burger vanished inside his fat tummy. The man was crazy around food, and she got annoyed whenever he exhibited this disgusting behavior. But his heart was made of gold, and that mattered the most.

  “Okay, here goes.” Em wiped his hands on a white napkin Tia had left in front of him. “We are going on a trip to Gamisha tomorrow. We’re visiting the Laxania headquarters.”

  Tia’s chin lifted, her fingers clenched around the soft coating of the fiber chair she was sitting on. “Laxania? Why?” A memory of a man in a black business suit visiting her couple of days back surfaced in her mind, and that memory was associated with her deceased father. Hatred and anger filled her mind as she remembered the man’s words.

  Visaka touched her shoulder, rubbing it lightly.

  “I haven’t told you gals before, but my brother has been stranded in the BlackFlame Online game for the last ten years, and in a months’ time he will be set free. The
se guys want me to come and sign some contract. I might get a chance to visit my brother in the game.” He leaned forward, grabbing Tia’s hand. “And I want you to be with me. I want him to meet you while he’s in a good mood. I’m not sure how he will behave after coming out of the game. I’ve heard people who spend a long time in the game start hating the actual world.”

  Em’s words spilled over her mind like acid, burning through the surface, exposing a dark pit she had kept hidden for the last twenty years. “Sorry, Em. I can’t.” She slammed her hand on the table. The empty food plate jumped and fell off the table. She stood and left the cafeteria. She couldn’t take the toxic smiles of the students anymore. She needed plain air to breathe some calm in, to clear the toxins from her heart.

  3. The Antidote

  The room went silent for a moment. A tremble started in Noah's core, eventually spreading to his hand. The tea cup in his hand dropped to the ground, breaking into three pieces. Each piece resembled his broken heart. Noah dropped to his knees, collecting the pieces. They could be patched together, but there was no mending his heart. His girl, Thia, was infected by a curse, and he was the sole reason for it. The curse of death.

  “Leave it. I’ll prepare another cup for you.” Roderich poured the intoxicating drink in another cup. The aroma of the tea should have eased Noah’s senses, but it couldn’t. Instead it added to his uneasiness.

  Roderich continued, “I’ve something I can use on her. But it’s going to cost a fortune. The ingredients don’t come cheap.”

  “How much?” He hoped he had enough gold. Greedy Mathial had been slowly eating away his cash.

  “I’m not talking about gold, human. I need a monster crystal of iron, level 2, for this. Something that a hobgoblin or orc warrior can drop.”

  “I’ll get one for you. I know where I can find a goblin.” The view of goblin town appeared in Noah’s mind. “But do you have one you can use, right now? Please.”