Dawn of Adventure

by Andrew Bardsley

  At the end, when all the steel trolls were in metal shrapnel from his cuts. Jane dropped her healing spell. The whole audience clapped and cheered the first successful battle in the noble tournament. To Jane's apparent delight, shown by a small, shy smile, even Bingley's sister was overjoyed with their performance.

  Lady Bennet lent over to Lizzy and said with a similar smile, “Don’t they work well together. I’ve so much hope for a good union for Jane.”

  Lizzy said in a tone of exasperation, “Mother is that all you ever think about.”

  His mother said in all seriousness, “When you have five daughters, maybe you will be as concerned for them as I.”

  For the next few hours, the spectators watched the tournament proceed. Lydia and Kitty were in a team of five adventures. The rest of the team were all boys that they had partnered up with in the morning. They did well in the contest as each member of the team tried to show off.

  What was more surprising to Lizzy was that her mother managed to convince her father to take part in the contest. To her great wonder, she always wondered how she got her father to do anything she seemed to desire. Even more surprising was the monster they faced as the white light flashed in the arena. Lizzy wondered if her father had annoyed somebody today with his opinions because it looked as if somebody wanted him to be seriously injured or killed.

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Skills

  Lava Troll

  50

  10

  800

  100

  Lava Ball

  When her father saw the creature, he just pulled out two flasks from his jacket. Throwing one to his wife, he took the other and drank it all in one gulp. In a fraction of a second, his body started to enlarge as multi-colored magical light shone around him. When the lights faded. In his place stood a massive granite troll about twice the size of a lava troll in front of him. Lizzy noted that her mother had now changed as well. She was also a granite troll. The sound of the two massive trolls pounding slowly across the arena echoed from the hill around them. With all the sound, even some of the commoners came over from their matches to watch what was happening.

  Lizzy gasped when she saw a lava ball hit the chest of her father's granite body. The flame and molten rock just seemed to flow off him, only leaving a burn mark in the soiled granite surface. His hands were now in the range of the fiery troll. The massive stone creature started to pound the burning beast as if his hands were jackhammers. With this attack, the lava troll fell backward as fiery liquid lava splashed all over the arena. But this was only the prelude of more to come. Soon both of the granite trolls started to pound the monster with their massive pounding hand. Buring hot lava was spraying the protective shield. As the beast was pulverized mercilessly into the ground.

  When the creature was flattened, the crowd cheered gratefully at the wondrous spectacle. With arms waving the couple returned to the rest of the family, Lizzy could see her mother beaming with pleasure at the spectacle they had produced.

  Chapter 6

  The tournaments in the plains before white snow-capped mountains in the distance continued for the next few rounds of intense battling. As parties of nobles teamed up to battle with the captured monsters. Lizzy was just chattering to her father about some insightful observations he had about the nobles around them. When a blast of a single note of a trumpet filled the plain.

  That’s the alarm, she thought with worry. What could be so dangerous to be a danger to the entire county of adventures assembled here?

  All around the tournament field, people jumped up from where they had been sitting, enjoying the afternoon. Fighters started to pull out their weapons, and wizards were casting spells of protection around their parties. The battles in the arenas were brought to a swift conclusion as guards rushed in and killed the monsters with merciless cuts of their powerful weapons.

  Like most of the other wizards, Lizzy was now covered in waves of undulation blue and white energy that flowed around her body. She looked at her father, who was calling back all the family. To where they have been sitting on the gentle slope watching the battles. Soon his daughter and wife linked in an adventure group able to see each other's states. They had done this so much as a family that it was as easy as slipping on a familiar hat.

  Lizzy looked at her sister Lydia, who had her bow drawn, so she could see her health information. Then Lizzy saw her sharp-eyed sister Lydia gasp in shock as she scanned the flickering air above the top of the mountains. She looked in the general direction of where Lydia’s gaze was focused and saw black dots just coming into view. For a second, wondering what the spots were. Thankfully, Lydia projected the informant for all the family members to see from the goddess blessing:

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Skills

  Wyverns

  71

  20

  900

  200

  Frost Breath

  When they saw the information provided by the rogue, her father swore a few times in dismay about what they were facing. Not one but tens of powerful legendary beasts all out for their blood.

  He said to his wife in a tone that expressed his opinion that he had been right all along, “I told you how stupid it was to have a party close to the border of the county. Now we’ve certainly bitten off more than we can chew. Were all in an exposed position out in this open plain. Dam the proud stupidity.”

  Before he could say anything further, the amplified voice of Sir William blasted out across the tournament field. “All combatants below master level make their way to the portal, now. In full retreat. No exceptions, you will do no good on the battlefield. Master level and above, you are required to defend the exodus. We need the time to get as many through the portal as we can. No time for a battle plan. Just fight in your party groups!”

  With the dark dots getting large as the second passed in the bright sunlight of the afternoon. The family started to prepare for battle. Thankfully, they were well versed in fighting together as a team. As it was a common occurrence for a family to prosper in the land. With a grim smile, her father started to pass out bottles and vials to the rest of his family.

  Lady Bennet said solemnly, “You know what to do girls. Form up for defense.”

  The Bennet family ran into the much practiced defensive formation. Lizzy looked around, seeing other family groups forming into similar formations. She noted that Bingley's party were now under a strong magical field that was nearly opaque from the outside.

  In her place, she flicked her eyes to her sister Mary. Who had gotten a staff with a crystal on its head out of her inventory. She was reading out of a small book, as she was half-singing a spell. Then from the top of her staff in a burst of swirling waves around the Bennet family, a golden dome appeared of wavy shield energy.

  Lady Bennet said to her, often a shy daughter, “Excellent dear. Now everybody starts moving back toward the portal. While we do our duty and delay the monsters.

  The sunny outing had changed from its carnival-like atmosphere to one of urgency. Lizzy flickered her eyes toward the portal and saw that the lower level citizens were already moving through the dark undulating surface under the direction of the city guard. As the family moved back slowly under the protection of Mary’s shield, she got ready for the attack. Then hearing a massive screeching noise from the approaching dots that were becoming increasingly defined. She started to be able to see the wings of the Wyverns, pushing with powerful beats in the air. Their beaks were open, screeching challenges at the humans below.

  This is getting incredibly dangerous, very fast, she thought.

  The first attacking shot from the assembled group of adventures was from Lydia’s bow. One of her arrows shot with a flash of magical light into the air as it arched up to the lead attacking Wyverns. The monster in all its hor
rific glory was fully visible with its blue body and lizard-like appearance. It had large claws on its legs that were tucked in to give it a slimmer profile in flight. With wonder about her sister's skill, Lizzy saw the arrow hit the creature in one of its white membrane wings. On contact with the skin of the wing, the arrow burst into red flames as the wing of the beast was engulfed in the yellow fire. This caused the oncoming creature to falter in its flight only to be overtaken by several behind it.

  Lydia said with a voice filled with pride, to her family around her, “The first strike to me.”

  Her father said, “That may be. But it's had little effect on the creature.”

  By now, the Wyvern was free of flames as its health bar was only showing it had received single percentage damage to its HP. As if Lydia's attack had been a signal. From around the plain magical missiles of power, arrows and missiles of stone shot up toward the flying creatures in the clear blue sky. Most of the balls of energy found a target in the air as the blasts of energy flashed in magical explosions. For some time, the sky lit up with multi-colored explosions as if it was a grand celebration.

  Lizzy joined in the general attack as she blasted off the magical spell ‘Bolt of magical energy.’ The bolt of burning blue-white energy shot into the sky, twisting as if had come out of a rifled barrel. It swerved around as it moved, under her command, to her targeted Wyvern. Then at the last instant, it suddenly accelerated in a burst of power hitting the head of the Wyvern. The energies wrapped around the head of the monster as the ball of lightning got smaller trying to crush its large skull. Up in the air, the creature screamed with the pain as it shook its head. Then a white power flowed out of its beak to the constricting lighting. This caused Lizzy's attack to vanish into the air. But to Lizzy’s joy, she saw that she had brought the health bar down by ten percent.

  With screeches of anger that reached the ground. The flock of tens of Legendary level Wyverns now dove to the retreating crowds of adventurers. Out the gaping becks of the beasts streams of white frost were sprayed in great achs across the battlefield. The family shield that Mary was producing was soon covered with white-blue ice particles. This obstructed their vision of what was happening around them for a few moments. Mary took a gulp of one of her father's potions, in her hand, as her white knuckles gripped her staff. She looked as if she was having trouble with the defenses as the attack was so powerful.

  She shouted in a voice with a tinge of fear, “The attacks are just too powerful for me to hold onto this shield for long. We need to hurry!”

  “Jane, Kitty, and Mary run back to the portal under the protection of Mary's shield. I want you three back through the portal quickly. Jane and Mary, when you're in the town, head to the temple. You’ll need to help with the healing of the injured. That's the best you can do for the adventures of the town,” said their mother in a stream of urgent instructions. “The rest of you stay with us. Lizzy, I need a shield.”

  With a nod, her father threw his wife a small flask, and the two took the potion. With a burst of light surrounding their bodies, the two suddenly changed into giant lava trolls. They jumped out of Mary’s protective dome of magic as it moved back toward the portal.

  Lizzy also jumped out from under the barrier as she cast a magical shield spell. With the waves of energy making a new dome of magic, she started to release the ‘Bolt of magical energy’ spell into the air. Beside her were the two lava trolls blasting the melted rock into the air at the descending Wyverns. Lydia, who was shooting arrow after arrow using one of her rogue skills to highlight an enemy to target. Then the ranged attackers from the remains of the family under her instruction follow her target. Soon the attacking creature was being hit by multiple missiles from all of them. This concentrated attack of the unfortunate targeted creature started to bring the health of the beast down below half in a few seconds.

  Around then, Lizzy could see a similar battle taking place. The dungeon master party was also retreating. Like the others in the field of battle. Their previously opaque magical shield was now mostly transparent as it was losing its energy. Several of the large creatures were taking turns swooping down onto the group in continuous attacks on the dome. It seemed that they understood where the most robust adventures in the retreating field was and were focusing on them. From out of the shield, balls of burning white-hot fire were moving in a near-continuous blast. These balls of energy were hitting their mark but only slowly taking down the health of the swooping attacking Wyverns. There were just too many of them too.

  Lizzy's focus returned back to her own family's battle. With Lydia's skill, the creature they were focusing their attention on was still being targeted by their spell. It had been trying to dodge and dive in the air to avoid the concentrated attack. But the magic of targeting from the rogue always kept it the focal point of the family attacking missiles. Soon it was down to only ten percent of its health. Then with one last ‘Bolt of magical energy’ from Lizzy. She hit the screeching monster in the head. The lighting of her spell encompassed its head for a fraction of a second. Then with a powerful explosion, the Wyvern’s head was blown apart, raining blood onto the battlefield. The headless beast’s body went limp as the creature just plummeted from the sky, hitting the ground with a thud.

  A cheer went up from the retreating nobles as this was the first kill in the battle. In answer to the death, the creatures in the sky went mad as they started to pour down attack after attack on the retreating adventures. Lizzy saw some people in the open, being blasted by the breaths of frozen energy. Many of them just froze as ice statues in the position they had been when the frost blast hit them. With this full onslaught of the legendary creatures, the field was filling up with teams of dead and wounded adventures. From the area around the portal, the magic projected voice of Sir William Lucas ordered.

  “Nobles of the county retreat, the portal will be closing in two minutes.”

  Lizzy looked around and saw that across the field of battle that only about ten groups of high-level adventurers were left. The rest of the plain was filled with dead bodies of the fallen. Also, the white area where the frost attack had hit. As ordered, all the groups disengaged their assaults against the flock of Wyverns. In a mad dash, groups of people just ran as quickly as they could toward the still open portal that would transport them back to the county town.

  Seeing this mass retreat, the flying creature started to move on mass as they were swooping toward the fleeing adventurers. With a determined expression as she was not about to see a massacre of the people fleeing. Lizzy took out one of her father's potions and placed the glass bottle top to her mouth. Then in one smooth motion, she drank the contents of the whole brew.

  As the burning hot liquid flowed down her throat, it was quickly absorbed by her body. She felt a burst of power infuse her magical pathways. It felt as if her whole frame was about to explode. With the gathered energy that was coursing through her. Instead of exploding, she quickly cast a shield spell. From her hands, blasted streams of blue and white powers shot into the sky. In front of the diving beasts. Then on her mental command, the shaft of energy blossomed like an opening flower's head. As petals of shielding covered the retreating adventures.

  Frozen to the spot as she kept the magical power flowing through her, she felt the impact of the tens of Wyverns hitting her shield. The force of the numerous impacts drove her to her knees as she felt panic at her approaching death. She felt the hard frozen dirt of the grass that had been hit by an attack.

  Then she heard the shouting of a voice behind her say, ”Girl get up you the last!” She recognized it as the voice of the annoying wizard Dacy.

  But she took no heed of his annoying direction. What could she do now as she was committed to the spell! She was certainly not able to move with the full pressure of the shield on her. Then suddenly, tens of blasts of frost bolts hit her shield. It flashed as it failed under the magical onslaught of the powerful joint attacks. For a fraction of a second, she felt a flash of cold,
and then the deep coldness of death fell upon her.

  Chapter 7

  Lizzy opened her eyes as her consciousness returned to her newly resurrected body. She felt the cold of the stone slab of the altar of resurrection below her body. This was not the first time she had wished that it was heated. Thankfully that was the only discomfort she felt as the potion her father had developed was suppressing the horror of death. Her death was just an abstract memory to her now. When her vision came into focus, she saw the concerned face of Jane looking down upon her. She returned the smile and then started to get up from her prone position.

  “Slow down, Lizzy,” said her concerned sister, “you know that it takes a while to get your bearings.”

  The large open room of the town's temple resurrection room wobbled a bit, as her vision swirled. She could see that other adventurers were moving away from the several altars in their resurrection white robes. She was dressed in a similar robe that just simply covered her body in a white sheet. Other healers were helping the people move past the statues of the gods and goddesses that decorated the temple interior. Most of the people were stumbling, getting used to their new bodies the goddess blessing had created on their death.

  “I should be fine now,” she said to her overly concerned sister.

  With help, she moved off the altar. Feeling the cold floor of the stone-paved temple. When she was steady to go, her sister smiled and said, “I’ve got some spare clothes if you want to put them over the resurrection robes.”

  Lizzy said with a whimsical smile, “This time I think that the white robes are more a badge of achievement than of shame. Just give me a belt to make the robe a bit more shapely to my figure. Luckily I’ve only lost the tatty old robe in the battlefield today, so I’m not too upset.”