Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

  Asura let out another cry of pain when her sword was knocked aside and the golem's blade stabbed into her side. Fortunately, her armor reduced the force of the blow so her HP only went down a little bit, but the golem pulled the sword back to begin swinging again. She parried the blows as best she could with her right hand as her left hand brought up the menus. After a few seconds her wings disappeared, and she plummeted to the ground. She took a bit of damage, but was quickly able to remove it with a healing spell. She glanced up and was happy to see the golem was still confused as it couldn't understand how she disappeared so fast.

  With the moments relief she charged forward at the demons and she made her sword grow to a great sword again. She brought her sword down on the nearest one. “Spiral blade!” Asura spun through them in a powerful spin. Three of them fell to the attack, her strike the final blow. With those ones dealt with only two remained. “Distractions! We need to distract the golems while- EEK!” She brought up the great sword when the angel golem came at her again. “I got this one! AHHH!” Asura once again brought her sword down to longsword size as she parried the blows. The monster was brutal as it cut at her again and again, each blow making her sword vibrate and abuse her hand.

  Off to the side she could see B4hamutt dealing with the leviathan. Well, running as the leviathan tried to gobble him up, but it was a distraction. She let out a shriek when the golem struck her sword one more time, hitting so hard she was flung backwards. Right into one of the cages that had housed the things.

  “Oh crap,” she said softly when she was backed against the wall. The cages had looked so much bigger when the monster didn't take up the entire exit by itself. The golem showed no mercy when it struck at her again and again. She used her greater heal spell over and over, but before long the thing finally knocked the sword from her grasp and her MP was almost gone. She dove as the blade shot overhead and grabbed her sword, stabbing straight up into the golem's stomach.

  For a moment the golem stopped and she let out a sigh of relief. “I won! I did it! I killed a flesh golem! I am! Awesome!” She cheered. Then the air was driven out of her as the golem's leg shot down on her back. “NO! Stop! Get off!” she screamed when more blows came down. She closed her eyes as the pain shot through her back. It took her a few seconds to realize that one, she wasn't dead and two, it wasn't a sharp pain, but a blunt pain. She slowly looked behind her and realized the golem had fallen on her back. Her comrades had killed the demons. She tried to pull herself out from under the creature, but soon realized something horrible. She was stuck. Completely. The creature was too heavy for her to move. “Get! Off!” She thrashed about in vain rage before letting out an annoyed sigh. She brought up the menu one more time and sent a message to B4hamutt.

  Within a few minutes he was standing over her and being as annoying as possible. Poking her head, over and over. “Stop it!”

  The dragon smiled. “Nope.”

  “Knock it off!”

  “Not happening.” He poked her nose.

  “I will break you!”

  “Well maybe I'll just leave you under there all day then.”

  “Get me out of here or I swear I will make you pay!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

  “Fine fine, just need to take a few screen shots. I bet I could post these on our website. Asura's new weight training, timber, carrying dead weight, you know the caption makes the picture.”

  “I am going to murder you. So many times,” she said with a low growl. “Mark my words, I WILL get you back for this.”

  “Yeah yeah, sure you will. Here,” he said before he pushed the body and together they managed to get her out.

  “How's the room? They find the demons?” she asked before she dusted herself off and checked to make sure her sword had returned.

  “They are setting up the torches now, but nothing yet. We lost a few more and only have about five left, excluding us.”

  “Wonderful.” She walked out and confirmed what he said. “Only the treasure room remains. Guess we'll have to be careful if we don't want to get overwhelmed by the guardian.”

  “Screw the guardian. I say we just kill the bastards, break the altar and get out. Should be easy enough,” B4hamutt said before he walked to the last door. The group pushed it open to reveal the final room.

  Inside were piles of silver, copper and jeweled pieces of armor. Rooms like this were commonly known as 'noob traps' because those who hadn't seen them before would run in and grab the loot immediately. They'd then be quickly slaughtered by the summoned guardian before the rest of the party could do anything, thereby losing all the treasure and equipment they had looted since they started if the party couldn't revive them. Fortunately, they knew better than to trigger it. Unfortunately, a single altar with a big red gem stood in the center of the pile.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Asura grumbled when she held her torch aloft. “Okay everyone, spread out and light the area up! Don't touch the money!”

  They formed two teams, one with three and one with four, and began to circle around the treasure from opposite ends while spreading the torches. Suddenly, from out of the darkness three demons leaped out, one with a glaive and two with naginatas. Asura quickly drew her own sword and shattered one of the naginatas as the other struck her in the chest, dealing damage and forcing her back. The glaive wielder went straight at B4hamutt, but he quickly sidestepped and grabbed the shaft, tugging the person in and punching him in the stomach. “We found them!” he yelled before they threw their torches down and revealed more of the demons.

  “We know!” a yell came from the other side of the room. They had at least eight demons here, and they had no idea how many attacking the other side. Fortunately, they had two masters. B4hamutt swung into action and she followed suit, her blade slicing through their weapons as the dragon's axe exploded around them. Within a few seconds, the demons were backing away, many having to draw their back up weapons and try to poke from a distance, while being careful to avoid strikes from either of their blades.

  The third man in their group, a fae, just stood there and watched with mild annoyance. He tried shooting arrows, but with the two in the midst of the enemies it was near impossible to get a clear target. After a few moments of just watching them fight he drew his bow back and started randomly shooting in their direction. Most of the arrows were knocked away or bounced off his allies, but a few managed to hit their enemies. Then one of them hit a demon and made him stumble over. Straight into the pile of money. The ensuing roar made everyone freeze and turn towards the center of the room.

  It was a massive chimera, crafted by combining others into a single monster. It had the main body of a leviathan with scales that covered all of it, but the head. A head of a lion holy beast with metal coated teeth. On its back it had six pairs of wings, some which were angel and some which were fae. Instead of the leviathan's tail, it had a massive scorpion stinger, likely taken from a large demon like the ones they had fought before. Red stones coated its body with the same red lines connecting them. A flesh golem combined with one of those experiments. Without a controller. “Oh, this is going to suck,” Asura said with a groan.

  The creature turned its back to them and charged straight at the nearest players, which fortunately seemed to be the other group. Asura backed away as she heard screams coming from the other fighters. “Damn it! We need to destroy the altar! Otherwise-- ah!” She blocked a sword with her wrist guard before she pulled away farther. Despite the summoning, it seemed the demon players didn't care. “B4hamutt! You hold them off, I'll get the altar!” She took off without waiting for his response, diving at the altar.

  She stopped short when a fae appeared in front of her, using his fae-step ability. She nimbly moved to the left when the fae's sword tried to cleave through her. She brought her own sword down on it, cutting the fae's blade in half, before swiping at the man. He jumped back and grabbed a handful of coins. He tossed them at her face, so she merely sidestepped so they f
lew by. A moment later her back was carved into as two demon girls appeared behind her wielding their pole arms. She turned to strike them, but they disappeared back into the shadows. A moment later an arrow hit her in the back. “Damn it!” Asura slammed a hand down into the ground. “Flame field!”

  Pillars of flame formed around her and spun a few times before shooting out into a flaming wave. The two demons reappeared when the flames connected and she quickly charged at them, slashing once and destroying the nearest one's weapon. She then jumped into the air as another arrow shot past her, striking one of the girls as well.

  “Hit her, not me!” the demon shouted moments before Asura landed on her. She drove both feet into the demon's shoulders and brought her to the ground, pinning the enemy. Asura rose her sword high and then stabbed down into the girls chest three times before she disappeared into a small red gem. Two more arrows struck her in the back, the second one exploding into powerful gusts of wind that sent her hurtling upwards. She struggled to regain control as the winds tossed her about, finally stabilizing moments before the second demon lunged up and drove the glaive into her stomach, sending her hurtling down to the ground like a comet.

  She hit the ground hard before the demon pointed a finger at her. “Drain!” A black beam of darkness shot out from the enemies finger and enveloped the angel. Her HP fell slowly as her body began to feel numb and unresponsive. She rolled to the right before the demon girl thrust the glaive blade down, narrowly avoiding the blow.

  “Restoration!” Asura put a hand to her chest. The black energy disappeared from her body as her HP quickly went up, though she was still only about half full. The demon had melded with the shadows again while the fae had fae-stepped onto a pile of coins and began shooting more arrows at her.

  She growled and charged straight at him, even though the arrows jammed into her chest. That was the best way to deal with a fae, after all. Their fae-step allowed them to teleport away quickly, but only for short distances and shooting the bow was a slow and difficult task for most. Even though her HP was plummeting, she made her way to him after a few seconds and jumped to the top of the pile, using her wings to enhance her jump, and cleaved his bow in two.

  Asura was unable to stop her momentum and slammed straight into the man, sending both of them barreling down the edge of the little hill of money. She landed hard on her stomach and groaned before looking around. She saw the archer a few feet from her, laying on his back. She jumped up and grabbed her sword up from the ground before charging straight at him. He brought his sword out before she got to him, but she easily cut it in two and slashed through him over and over. She only stopped when a massive scaled claw stomped the ground in front of her. She slowly looked up into the gaping, growling, slightly drooling maw of the chimera. Asura let out a soft squeak and ran. She heard the archer's final scream and then felt the ground rumble as the creature pursued her.

  The creature was quickly gaining when she finally caught sight of the pillar. She charged forward, her sword lifted high as she prepared to chop it in half. The angel was brought short as a massive claw slammed down across her back, bringing her crashing to her stomach. She struggled to reach the pillar, chopping with her sword, but it was just a few inches out of reach. “Damn it! Get off!” Asura snapped before she swung her sword at the creatures leg, but was unable to get enough leverage or position it to do more than little shallow cuts across the scaled leg.

  She twisted as best she could and stared up at the monster while it opened its mouth. “No no no!” she screamed before its head lunged straight at her. She closed her eyes and her hand thrust out. “Rapture!” she yelled before the spell erupted. She didn't feel the sudden pain of its jaws closing around her, so she slowly opened her eyes. She had grabbed the creatures lip as it had dove at her, just barely managing to get her spell off into it. But she'd done it. She got the creature. The others must have weakened it enough.

  The creature's mouth snapped forward a moment later and clamped around her, eliminating the rest of her HP. It only hurt for a second, then she was inside a dark void surrounded by clear red walls. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?” She tried bringing up the menu options to send B4hamutt a message, but all she got was 'Error'. She froze as she realized what happened. She was inside a soul gem. She ran at the wall and began kicking and screaming. “Let me out! LET ME OUT!” She even tried cutting it with her sword, but it didn't couldn't even nick the walls. “S-stop! Let me out of here!” She kept attacking the walls until she fell to her knees in exhaustion, gasping. There was still a way out. All she had to do was wait until it timed out. If no one took the gem then it would automatically break.

  She began to calm down until she heard a girl's voice. “Hello, can you hear me?”

  “Yes. Who is this?” she asked warily.

  “Hee hee. You're the angel, aren't you? I can't believe my luck! I'm going to get such a large gold reward for this.”

  “W-what? Hey! Let me out! Just you wait, the others are going to beat you and then--”

  “No, they aren't. We've already won, you guys are all captured and added to our collection. I'm guessing you're the angel they wanted so bad, aren't you? Judging by your sword at least you--” She was cut off as Asura started screaming.

  “LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT!” she screamed while redoubling her attacks on the wall. “We have your boss, if you don't release me you'll never get her out!”

  “Eh. Don't care. Well, do a little, but we can just trade one of you for her. Maybe it'll be you. Either way, it's easy. Just sit back and relax, it'll all be done soon. Go play another game for a while.”

  Asura froze as her eyes twitched. She'd done so much, worked so hard for this. She had trained for all of last year so she could participate. She was going to lose her chance, just like that? It wasn't fair. She screamed with fury and swung her sword over and over against the wall, letting all her frustration and rage out against it even as her arms throbbed.

  She froze as warning messages suddenly flashed in front of her. Pain shot through her left arm before her entire body went limp. 'Emergency shutdown' flashed in front of her in large glowing red letters before she reappeared in her hospital room. A loud angry beeping could be heard from Asher's health monitors and the door burst open as some nurses and doctors charged in. The pain in his arm was much worse now. He tried to focus on the medical staff as they injected something into his arm and were saying something to him, but he couldn't make it out. The headset was torn off his head and tossed aside before they started to wheel something into the room. Before he could make out what it was, whatever they injected into his arm kicked in and the world went dark one more time.

  Chapter 5

  Age: 16 years, 1 month

  Asher awoke with a blinding light in his eyes. He blinked blearily a few times before slowly turning his head to the right. His parents were at his side, besides the bed. His mom's eyes were red from crying and his father looked tense, with arms crossed tightly. “W-what happened?” he asked softly before he closed his eyes again.

  “Oh Asher, honey!” his mother said before she grabbed him in a tight hug. “Don't ever scare us like that again! I though I lost you! My little baby boy,” she said with thick sobs.

  He gasped for air as his mother hug-choked him. “M-mom I-I'm fine. R-really. I-I can't breath... gaaaaasp.” His mother loosened the grip, but only slightly.

  “This is all because of those games,” she said firmly before glaring down. “I never should have let you play them. You're far too delicate and sensitive a boy to get so excited in your little worlds.”

  “W-what?” he said softly. He hurt all over, but what his mother was saying pained him even worse.

  “You were playing your games when you had a heart attack. You could have died!” his mother screamed before she tightened her hug again.

  “I-I had a h-heart attack? I-I didn't... g-get that upset...”

  “It's okay though, honey. You're going to be fine. No
more games. From now on just fresh air and sunshine and living life to it's fullest!”

  His eyes went wide at the new lifestyle decision. “M-mom, I'm fine. It wasn't the g-game.” Fear spread through him. Spending the rest of his life trapped and unable to move? Stuck in bed and just waiting to die? He couldn't imagine anything worse.

  “How can you say that? It happened when you were playing! It had to be the game.”

  “M-mom, you're just blaming them b-because you're scared. T-they aren't d-dangerous at all. B-besides, I'm fine.” Panic filled his quivering voice. “Y-you promised you'd p-play one of them w-with me, too.”

  “We most certainly will not. Asher you... you... oh honey don't cry,” she said as comfortingly as she could as he began using his ultimate weapon. Tears. He hated using them, especially in front of his father, but it was the only thing he could think to do. That and he wasn't sure he could hold them back.

  “M-mom I-I don't want to s-stop playing. I-It's the o-only place I c-can even move a-any more o-on my own. I-If I'm going to have to just lay in bed a-and wait to die I might as well be dead...” he said softly.

  “I...” His mother struggled to find the words. “I see. Well we'll... we'll see after this weekend. We'll give it a try. But until then you need to get your strength back. No more of those scary games. Understood?”

  He let out a sigh and slowly nodded. He wasn't even sure he wanted to go on right away, though he didn't want to lose them forever. He was terrified to find out if he was still trapped. Was he going to miss the quest? Had he really almost died because of it? For the first time he began to wonder if he was too focused on them.