Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

“Magic pistol!” Asura yelled. “You have to try and dodge the bullet! Don't worry, he's pretty obvious when he-- eek!” Three tentacles shot into the room from the stairwell. The party scattered as the limbs twisted and grabbed for them.

  “This is part of the fight, right?” 5t4r yelled out before backing away from the pirate. The ship suddenly jerked to the left and sent the dragon flying into the wall with a pained grunt.

  “Yeah! Didn't think it was just the pirate, did you?” Asura yelled before struggling to her knees and shot an arrow into the pirate. He shrugged it off and headed towards the downed dragon. “Careful, the ground is going to get a lo-- eek!” She fell backwards into the wall as once again the ship rocked hard, this time to the right.

  B4hamutt kept on the ground and jabbed at the pirate with his guisarme, straight into the stomach. Blood coated the blade, but almost as soon as the blade was removed the wound healed over. “Ah heh heh heh!” the pirate laughed. “Yah buncha land lubbahs didn't think Captain Scomparsa, ruler of the damned, would go down so easy, now did yah?” He walked towards the demon, seemingly unhindered by the rapid jerking of the boat, and lifted his sword to cut the prone fighter down.

  Andremedia lunged forward and, stepping onto B4hamutt, blocked the sword with her shield. She then quickly countered with a firm strike to the pirate's side. Despite the rocking boat she managed to keep her footing secure and not tumble over.

  “Gah!” Scalios yelled while swinging his sword wildly at the groping tentacles. Blindly the appendages tried to feel around for anything, only backing away for a moment when his sword hit them. After a few slashes the tentacle retreated back and the ship stopped rocking.

  “You okay?” Asura called before double tapping her foot. She appeared at his side and, despite being sitting when she had initiated the step, was now standing. She pulled him to his feet before motioning to the pirate. “Come on!”

  “I'm fine,” Scalios growled and held out his left hand. “Ra-- AGGHHHHH!” A huge tentacle suddenly reached out from the doorway and wrapped around him. A moment later it, and he, were gone.

  “Healer's down! I'll back up! Andremedia, go after him. You're the only one with the water abilities!” Asura drew the bow string back. “Piercing!” She let another arrow out at the pirate. “Arrow!” She cast once she was sure it would hit. Mid flight the arrow was surrounded by green light and shot through the captain.

  B4hamutt tried to sweep Scomparsa's legs out from under him, but the man merely jumped over the weapon. Andremedia took the chance and ran out the door, in pursuit of their healer.

  The wound was already healing up. “Ray burst!” Multiple bursts of light shot out from her hand and pierced Scomparsa. His facade began to fade and his flesh turned from tanned to gray and lifeless, pieces of rotting flesh and bones peeking under a now ragged and torn uniform.

  “Yah buncha mangy curs,” the pirate said through rotting teeth. “Don't think you've taken this ruler of the seas yet! Rawrg!” He held both hands out before his body exploded into green rays of light.

  “RUN!” Asura screamed before they darted towards the door and began to run full sprint down the stairs. Throughout the ship they could see holes where the tentacles had broken through, and the ship was taking on more and more water. Behind them they heard creaks and groans as the room behind them caved in on itself.

  “What's going on?” 5t4r yelled while they struggled to run. The rooms behind them continued to cave in and jagged pieces of wood started to spread throughout the ship, attempting to impale them. Each step was a struggle, the ground shaking wildly.

  “Sheath your weapon!” B4hamutt yelled before his weapon disappeared and he dove into the water of the lower deck. His comrades followed his example as they struggled to swim towards the opposite end of the shop, though with 5t4r's armor it was more running than swimming. The crates and barrels spun around in the turbulent waters, bashing and bruising them as they slowly made it to the opposite end. After what felt like an eternity the three managed to escape the freezing water and sat on the steps, just above water level to catch their breath.

  “What... the hell... is going on?” 5t4r stared at the rampaging water.

  “He's become one with the ship. Now it's just a timed challenge to get back to our ship before-” There was another loud crunching sound from below, cutting Asura off. “That! Move it!” she yelled before they took off again.

  They had no problems until they re-entered the dining hall. All the tables now blocked the exit, and a large group of skeletons stood staring.

  “B4hamutt! There's no way we'll be able to clear them fast enough without our weapons! We'd need all five of us to have a chance! We need to use them!” Asura yelled before the skeletons charged them.

  “Fine! Let's do it!” he yelled and the three scattered. Their hands moved through the air before their weapons disappeared to be replaced by the legendary weapons of their choice. In Asura's and Star's right hands a silver bladed sword, with golden ruby studded hilt, appeared. Over B4hamutt's hands two ruby gauntlets formed, each with razor edged talons at the end of the finger, that went down to just below his elbows. They molded completely to his hand and wrist, seeming to allow him to bend them with no restrictions.

  “Whoa. Those are new, what do they do?” Asura asked before fae-stepping into the middle of the undead. Her blade shot out and cleaved through the creatures like butter as the others moved in to fight.

  “You'll see soon enough!” B4hamutt yelled before flung himself into the fray. He punched the nearest enemy and it was sent flying backwards while flames exploded out from the attack. He followed up by kicking the nearest skeleton, revealing ruby clawed boots.

  “They have boots too? Eek!” Asura ducked down so one of the skeleton's blades shot over her. She slashed once to lop off the skeletons arm and a second time to finish the creature. “Star, how are you holding up?” She swung her blade in a wide sweep, lopping off the legs of many of the monsters.

  “This weapon is amazing!” 5t4r yelled before cutting one of the skeleton's blades in two. “I can't believe you've had access to this for a year!” He used his shield to block the undead attacks before easily countering with more slashes of his sword.

  Within moments the last of the skeletons were gone and they turned their attention to the barricade. It exploded out within a few moments, turning the entire room behind them into an inferno while they ran towards the upper deck. Behind them they heard howls of rage that were soon drowned out by the torrential rain pounding on the deck. The ship rocked dangerously as they charged towards the bow and towards their escape. They were only a few yards away when the ship rocked hard once again, sending them hurtling to the ground, and began to pull away.

  “No! Hurry!” Asura screamed before running towards the planks, but they were already falling into the water. She stared hopelessly at their lost escape before turning to the others. “We... we've lost. We can't escape now.”

  “... Asura?” B4hautt said slowly.

  “What?”

  “You and Star both have wings. Just carry me.”

  “... Right. Eh heh... oops.”

  The two grabbed the demon and with a small bit of effort they carried him across the gap, dropping him on the slightly more stable galleon. Unsurprisingly, the ship was still fine except for the rocking back and forth from the waves.

  “Think those two will be okay?” 5t4r asked before he turned to face the shifting pirate ship. Wood cracked and groaned while the ship slowly changed into a large floating wooden creature, a face made with shattered glass eyes and two large hands made of splintered wood.

  “If anyone could have fought the kraken, they could. They should have been able to at least escape it with the leviathan abilities. Come on!” B4hamutt yelled before taking off, the others following behind. They headed down to the lower areas of the ship. “There are two ways to fight this part. Spells and ranged attacks while waiting for it to come on board, or the fun way.” He stopped and mo
tioned to a large line of cannons that were propped up by the wall, aiming out from the ship. The cannons were made of a glittery blue metal and held dozens of archaic runes across their surface. Instead of a fuse, the cannons had a large rune on the very top where one could place their hand. He demonstrated by pushing down on the rune and a large cannon ball shot out towards the pirate ship, sending wood splintering out.

  “Okay, that does look like fun,” 5t4r said before the three took positions and began using the cannons. After each shot the cannons had to be repositioned and re-aimed, making them slow to reuse. After a few shots were let loose the ship rocked after the monster punched the side, taking out one of the unmanned cannons, but missing them. when the fist was pulled back, bones began to rain down and reform into skeletons.

  “You two stay on the cannons, I'll take care of the skeletons!” Asura yelled and charged forward, her hands dancing through the air. A second sword formed at her side, a direct replica of Excalibur. She grinned and began slicing through them, using her fae-step to appear on the opposite side of them and swing her blades through their back lines, then fae-stepping again to their front lines before they could fully turn around. As she appeared a second time the ship rocked hard and sent her flying to the right, straight into the wall. She crumbled to the ground, dropping both swords and holding her side. “Owww... eep!” She let out a squeak before crawling backwards along the wall.

  The skeletons charged at the downed fae and slashed, driving her back and away from her weapons. “You okay?” 5t4r called back before another cannon blast rent the air.

  “I'm fine! Don't worry about me!” she yelled before rolling to the left, away from a blade. She pushed off the ground and flapped her wings a few times, putting a few feet between her and the undead. There were eight, but some of them were already low on health. She grinned and charged straight at them.

  The skeletons froze for a second as if their brainless bodies were trying to think of a reaction, but that was all the time she needed. She ducked down as her hand tapped the air and her wings disappeared. The first blade went straight over her head while she dove through them, sliding just above the ground while the skeletons tried to hit her but kept bumping into each other. She quickly tapped her foot twice as their blades shot at her and she disappeared just before they jammed into the ground. She reappeared by her swords and quickly scooped them up, grinning triumphantly. “Oh yeah. You're all--” She was cut off when a massive wooden fist plowed through the side of the ship and came straight at her. Her eyes went wide and she froze before being slammed back against the wall, chunks of wood piercing her skin and draining her HP to well under half.

  Asura groaned and fell to the ground, dizzy from all the sudden fae-steps and wall slam. Barely able to move her body and with her vision spinning, she tried to re-orientate herself. She realized a second later that the attack had paralyzed her, leaving her temporarily helpless as the skeletons slowly lumbered towards her and raised their weapons. With her body like this she couldn't even call for help while she managed to steady her vision just enough to make out the first blade coming down.

  The blade struck her in the stomach and lowered her HP ever further, but a second strike never came. Instead, two hands wrapped around her shoulders and slowly lifted her up to her feet. Scalios and Andremedia moved forward and began slaughtering the skeletons, albeit far slower since they were using their normal sword and mace. Her paralyzation wore off before she put a hand to her chest. “Greater heal.” Her HP shot up and the soreness quickly left her body. “About time you two showed your faces.”

  “Hey, the kraken was very persistent. You have any idea how hard it is to out-swim a giant tentacled monster? Especially in this weather?” Scalios asked, his tone dripping with annoyance.

  “Calm down, I was just teasing. Glad to have you back. We're on the final boss though, hope you're ready for this,” Asura said and moved to the cannon. Before too long, and after many rekilled skeletons, there was another blow throughout the ship and they looked up.

  “That's the cue! To the deck!” B4hamutt yelled and they charged up the stairs. The three had each switched back to their non-master weapons, so they knew the battle would be fierce. The deck was covered in splintered wood and corpses of the sailors.

  The wood of the ship had taken a much smaller, but still quite large, humanoid form and glowed with green magic. It stood on the deck and easily batted the crew away as they struggled to fight it. It's voice came out in a guttural echo, “Bwa ha ha ha! None survive without the say so of Captain Scomparsa! Your blood will dye the sea and you'll spend an eternity as my damned crew!” The wooden creature grabbed one of the crew before impaling him, kicking and screaming, on its jagged body.

  “Are all dungeons this long and convoluted?” 5t4r asked before charging towards the creature, axe at the ready.

  “No! But the best ones are!” Asura called back as she knocked another arrow and released. “Yes! I h-- dang it! That's no fair! Wind should not affect trajectory!” she screamed in rage, stomping her feet.

  “You really need to work on your aim! He's the size of a barn! Fireball!” B4hamutt yelled, causing flames to shoot out from his hand and envelop the monster. It howled in rage before swinging it's wooden arm at him.

  Andremedia charged in to block with her shield, but when the blow connected the hand shattered and chunks of jagged wood jammed into her from all sides. “AGHHHH!” she screamed and fell back.

  “Careful! Heal!” Scalios said and aimed a hand at Andremedia. “Hit it hard and fast! Guiding blade!” His blade came alive and shot through the creature with a single powerful slash.

  “Cleaving strike!” 5t4r yelled before his axe slashed off one of the creature's legs and it crumbled down.

  “Homing arrow...” Asura said softly before she let the arrow go. It shot through the air and, unsurprisingly, changed direction to hit the monster.

  “Piercing stab!” B4hamutt yelled before a black aura encased his guisarme and he was able to easily stab through the creature and, temporarily, pin it to the ground.

  “Titan's smash!” Andremedia screamed and charged at the monster. When she came closer the mace increased in size dramatically when she swung until, when it hit, it was larger than three of the players put together. Shards of wood shot through the air and the five stood over the splintered monstrosity.

  The green mist slowly began to rise from the creature to reform the pirate, gun and sword in hand. “Don't think you've won, you've-” He was cut off when they threw every spell they had at him, destroying the ground out from under him and, when the smoke cleared, leaving nothing more than some burnt marks and a crater.

  The group stood there in silence for a few moments until a large golden chest appeared on the deck. “We did it. How did they design something like this?” 5t4r stretched and walked towards the chest. “WHY would they design something like this? What's wrong with having normal, easy dungeons you can just spend a little bit of time doing and have fun?”

  “Exhibition dungeon,” Asura said with a groan before stretching, hearing a soft pop. “It was one of the dungeons they made to show off when the game was in beta, to make it look nice and fancy and that it broke all the limits. There are a few more, but this is the lowest level one.” She walked towards the chest with the others. Inside were the creature's sword, gun, his hat and a number of other pirate related items.

  “Wow. Really? A gun? Isn't that a bit overpowered?” 5t4r asked before picking it up.

  “No. Only one in the game, novelty item,” B4hamutt said with an annoyed sigh. “Takes forever to load, low damage for the level, even with the magic, low range and I hear it's actually a fairly accurate copy of how one would be in the early stages. Meaning the aim on it sucks from a distance. Completely useless, but fun. Some of the role players use it. You can have it if you like.”

  “Sure, why not,” 5t4r said. Piece by piece they divided the loot as the storm quickly disappeared, almost as fast as
it had come. It wasn't long before the ship returned to port and they were about to go their separate ways. “So Asura, are you going to join the tournament?”

  “Huh?” she asked, glancing back at the dragon in confusion.

  “... Don't you ever read the message boards?” B4hamutt asked with annoyance. “Aside from when the master quests come up?”

  “I can spend my time reading or gaming, I choose the latter. So what is it?”

  “Since there are quite a few masters now, Spigot entertainment is hosting a master tournament. There are a few rules in place to give the newbies a chance, but you still might want to sign up,” 5t4r said.

  She stopped for a moment before a grin formed on her lips. A tournament just for masters? Something like that would make her a hero if she won. She wouldn't be able to walk down the streets without people staring at her in awe. “Are you kidding? How do you sign up?” She turned and practically ran her two comrades over in excitement.

  “Oh, umm, you just need to sign up from the message boards. They are keeping the prizes hush hush but-- hey! Asura, don't... ugh.” B4hamutt shook his head as Asura disappeared. “That girl, I don't know why she even asks me things if she won't listen.”

  Asher glanced at the clock after logging out. He only had a little bit more time before he had to disconnect, so he quickly went through the sign-up before quitting. There were a few specific rules, though the most important was that they had to use a class they had mastered. But with that, he knew he had an edge. When his head set was finally removed he could barely contain his anticipation for the next coming weeks. His dreams were filled with visions of him standing before a cheering crowd as they called his name over and over. Asura. Landasy Realities greatest hero. A true legend.

  Chapter 7

  Age: 16 years, 4 months

  Asura stood completely still, grasping Excalibur tightly in both hands. Only a few feet separated her and B4hamutt, who was wearing his gauntlets and boots. She was in her angel class and he was in his dragon class. A small crowd composed of their guild mates surrounded the two as they stood in the court yard of their guild hall. Bets were being placed while the two circled around the makeshift arena.