Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

  “GAH!” she screamed and swam away. The beast followed, shaking the ice off as it went.

  “Hold on, we're coming!” Asura yelled.

  “No, don't!” Skyth yelled as she swam towards the opposite side of the chamber, the monster hot on her heels. “River's course!” The leviathan took off like a bolt. After a moment the creature sped up as well, using the same magics. She sped at the wall, turning into a blue blur, as the monster opened its mouth, almost within reach. “Now!” She veered off to the right. She was unable to turn well enough and slammed, hard, into the wall and skidded along the stones.

  Fortunately, she managed to move out of the way enough that Broknus missed her entirely and buried its head into the stone. Rocks began falling around the creature, burying it while it writhed frantically.

  “Get it!” Asura yelled and swam towards the wounded woman. “I'll check on Skyth!” She weaved around the falling rocks until she found the woman, buried under a few boulders. A quick slash of her blade broke the stone, freeing the scaled fighter. She reached down and helped Skyth up as she put a hand to the woman's chest. “Greater heal.”

  “Ugh... was all this just to cop a feel?” the leviathan asked with a chuckle. “Weren't kidding about the pain feedback being higher. I feel like I got ran over by a chuck... or three...”

  “A chuck?”

  “Truck... ow...” Skyth said with a groan. The wounds disappeared and she was released.

  Another roar tore through the caverns and the two looked back. The monster's tail lay limp on the ground of the cave, sliced from its body. Ice and rocks covered Broknus while it thrashed about, snapping at its attackers as they swarmed about like bees.

  “Should we try another big burst attack like we did on Niohoggr?” Asura asked.

  “Are you insane? Last time we nearly fried my equipment!” Skyth yelled and slammed her mace across the monster's back.

  “We could probably use them one at a time?” Andremedia said before stabbing into the crocodile's back and tearing away some scales. “We all have the hell fire spell boosted now!”

  “Come onnnn! As long as we don't do them all at once, it should be fine!” Asura sheathed her blade and dove at the monster. She placed both hands onto its back before yelling out. “Hell fire!” Black flames erupted from her hand and burned away at the creature, melting scale and flesh together and boiling the water around them. She coughed and sputtered before swimming away, the scent of charred scales trapped in her nostrils. “Ugh, that's horrible! Get out of their once you cast it, you don't want to smell that.”

  “Most of us have scent turned off,” Scalios said with a chuckle. “Just be thankful you aren't hurt by the splash back from the spell! I'm going in, Skyth?”

  “Coming!” the woman said and the two leviathan's dove in together. They each swam in from the side and gripped one of Broknus' feet.

  “Hell fire!” the two called in unison and the flames burst out from their hands and enveloped the limbs. As the two swam away the feet were left as nothing more than burnt, charred husks.

  “Media, with me!” B4hamutt yelled and he dove down. He dug his claws deep into the beast's face as Media dove up to jam her blade into its underbelly.

  “Hell fire!” they yelled and the black flames enveloped the creature's exposed body parts. Flesh and scales were burned away while Broknus writhed in pain. Finally the creature's body began to crack as scales flew into the water and turned into small red sparkles. Soon the rest of its body began to follow suit, its powerful shrieks echoing through the chamber as its body slowly disappeared into showers of red sparkles.

  Asura let out a sigh of relief and looked to the remains. “We did it. We've won. We finally killed the king of the leviathan's. I wonder if--”

  The chamber began to shake and the stones of the walls crumbled and broke apart. Behind the walls, statues of marble pushed their way out. The moss and coral crumbled to the ground and soon they were surrounded by a circle of statues, each shaped like a leviathan humanoid. Tridents, swords, maces and an assortment of other weapons were held by the marble creations. Stones from the roof began to fall around them in a thick layer of dust, revealing a multitude of upside-down clams. The shells opened before colorful gems began to fall from above, filling the chamber with their beautiful glow.

  “Congratulations!” a loud woman's voice called out. “As the first to ever defeat Broknus, Ruler of the Oceans, please accept this reward!”

  Once again there was a blinding flash and a small chest appeared in front of them. Asura smiled and tapped it as a message appeared. 'Acquired: Essence of Broknus, Skins of the ocean ruler.'

  “We did it!” Asura yelled and lifted her hands up to try to jump in excitement. Instead she flew up and slammed her head into one of the clams. “Owwwww...”

  “Smooth,” Skyth said with a chuckle. “Well, I guess that's that. Two down, four to go.”

  “Yeah,” B4hamutt said and looked around. “I guess we're going to have to teleport out of here or something. I don't see an exit.”

  “Well, we were probably going to have to anyway.” Asura swam around the group. “We've done it though! Two down! I think this one was even easier!”

  “Probably,” Scalios said with a sigh. “After all, it's probably not expected we'd all have leviathan class mastered. Look, there's even an air pocket to breath from. This one was probably the easiest, or one of the easiest.”

  Asura rolled her eyes, “Don't have to be a spoil sport about it. Come on, we won, be happy! We only have four more to go!” She cheered and pumped her fist in the air. Before long the group was back at Everlight and she could barely contain her excitement and hopped behind B4hamutt. “We did it, we did it, only four more to go!”

  “Yeah, I know,” he said before putting an arm around her shoulder. “We still have to find them though. What are your plans now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “With your parents,” he said quickly.

  She stopped and looked down. “I... I don't want to tell them yet.”

  “Asura...”

  “I will! I really will! I just...” She bit her lower lip. “I just... I'll tell them after the quest, okay? After the next one?”

  “Fine,” he said before giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “This is... this is something I need to do on my own.” She gently squeezed his hand. “Besides, I still have about... months before the next quest. Time to practice and prepare for that. Lots of preparing...”

  “How long until... you'll be going onto machines?”

  “Soon... I... I'm on the kidney one now,” she said softly. “Dialysis.”

  “What?” His arm wrapped tightly around her waist. “Why didn't you tell me? I should have been paying more attention. I could have--”

  “It's okay, it's okay, shhhhh,” Asura whispered and laid her head against his chest. “With all that was going on, my plans to tell them and everything I just... I just didn't want to bring it up. It's not that big a deal. I haven't been on it long.”

  “I think kidney failure is a pretty big deal,” B4hamutt said, anger filling his voice. He then let out a sigh and rubbed her arm. “I'm sorry, if you didn't want to tell me you... it was none of my business. I just worry about you. I want to think about you and... I want to know when these things happen. What if something had gone wrong and you...” He then smiled. “Though... I'll be honest. I... suspected you might have.”

  “I know you worry, and I'm sorry. But... I'd rather not talk about it before. I mean, what if I came on late? You'd think I was dead,” she said with a sigh before closing her eyes. “Let's talk about something else. Let's... let's plan for the next quest, okay? Or the attack on Voidhall? With all the advice you've given me I... I think we'll both have a decent chance to win this time, and we could launch an attack once the mastery quests are done. If I pass this time I... huh. I'll be honest, I haven't used him in a lo
ng time. Are you sure he's needed?”

  “Used... oh, me either,” he said with a chuckle. “Kind of funny when you realize how many players swear by them, and how hard you worked to get it. But I guess they aren't always the best with their penalties.”

  “No, but maybe he will work this time,” she whispered. “I wonder what the sixth mastery will be like...”

  “We'll find out together,” he whispered and gently kissed the top of her head.

  “Maybe... what was the first thing you saw when you started it?”

  “Oh, that's easy,” the dragon said as they entered her room, leaving the halls behind them.

  ------

  Months passed slowly until Asher found himself sharing his room with a new machine. Unable to hear, see or feel with his body, he lost any sense of connection to the real world. He was unable to even see the new equipment that now took up the majority of his room.

  Within the game world, however, her connections grew ever stronger. With the quests coming up, B4hamutt and Scalios had gathered Andremedia, Asura and Skyth for special training. They had retreated to a small forest near the fallen remains of Sanctuary, and practiced all the skills they believed they would need for the quest.

  When it was finally time, the angel traveled deep in demon lands yet again. She clutched her sword to her chest, before glancing at the dagger at her side. “Okay, I can do this. Be strong, Asura. You've practiced for this. You've trained for this. Just a little more,” she whispered to herself.

  Slowly she looked up. A temple, shaped like a large gaping maw with teeth, but no face, towered over her. Inside there was nothing but darkness and obsidian steps that went under ground. Slowly she stepped forward until a warning, the same warning she had seen so many times before, appeared. “Okay, now,” she whispered. She held out her hand on brought up a menu. After a few moments a loud shriek filled the air as her pet, a dragon nearly three times her size, appeared besides her. Fang.

  She slowly reached out and patted its snout. “Hey, big guy. Long time no see.” The reptile licked her hand in response. “Be careful, okay? I know how much you like lighting me on fire, but don't this time. I'm not in the mood to get fried by another one of your fire breaths,” she said harshly. The dragon made a soft whining sound and lowered its gaze. “Come on, Fang.” She walked into the darkness and clicked accept to the warning.

  The world froze around her for a moment before moving again. The stairs continued down for what felt like ages, though her leviathan abilities allowed her to still see. She glanced about on occasion, expecting something to attack, but nothing happened. Finally she saw torches down below and heard yelling and shouting. She began picking up the pace and grinned. “It's time!”

  At the bottom of the stairs were a handful of large demons, though heavily wounded. The ground was littered with dozens of their corpses. She stepped forward and glanced about. “Wow...” she whispered. “It's true...” She stooped down to examine one of the demons. The creature had been stabbed and had a few small round holes all over its body. “Swords and ray spells. Ohhhh!” She jumped to her feet and ran down the hall.

  Yelling and the sound of metal clashing greeted her. She came to a large open chamber, carved from the obsidian stones, filled with angels and demons fighting. There was a large hole near the top of the chamber where more and more angels flew in from. The demons had constructed walls and barricades, though they were quickly losing ground and being pushed into the tunnel she came through.

  The most impressive sights were the giants fighting in the front lines. Angels over twenty feet tall, with weapons and armor that glittered like jewels, cleaved through the demon hordes with ease. Their only opposition were massive demons, horned behemoths with claws like steel and teeth like diamonds. While the majority of the fighters were her size, the largest ones tore through the lines like unstoppable beasts of destruction. She let out a soft squeal of delight. “Okay, remember. Careful. Remember your training,” she said to herself before lightly jogging to the front line. “Don't let them surround you. Don't take too much damage, need to be ready for the second part. I can't believe I get to relieve a fight from the actual war! Real angels and demons! They... oh... my...” Her mouth fell open at the next sight.

  One of the angels held up their hands and a large pentagram formed in front of them. A moment later a golden bull charged out from it and tore through the demon lines. As the bull charged forward, one of the demons held out its hand and large tentacles formed from the arm. They wrapped around the beast and picked it up, before hurtling it back and shattering it against the wall of the cavern.

  “S-summoning magic! Transformation magic! It's really here! They do exist in the game!” Asura hopped up and down in excitement, clapping her hands together. “Hee hee, just you wait! One day I'll learn them! I'll learn all of them!” she yelled and charged forward. Behind her the little dragon flapped its wings and followed after. She went to the front lines, swinging her blade at the nearest angel. It brought up its own sword to block it, but her sword sliced clean through to the angel beneath. She struck the neck, instantly killing the man. “Awesome. He was right, kill-points work for these ones. Hup!” she said and took to the air to avoid a ground strike. She snapped her fingers. “Now!”

  A moment later her dragon opened its mouth and red hot flames burst out, enveloping a number of the angels. As soon as the flames died she landed in their midst and began cleaving through them once again. The smaller angels around her were soon dispatched. One of the larger ones turned to her and charged.

  “Bring it on, big guy,” she said before charging as well. It brought its sword down on her head, but she easily brought both her blades up to catch between them. Still, the force was so powerful it dropped her down to one knee. “Ow... son of a... damn. I guess your blade can withstand Excalibur. Well, let's try this!” She rolled to the side when the massive angel tried to cleave through her again. Jumping to her feet, the smaller angel charged forward and sliced across the giant warriors feet, freezing them in ice.

  “Take that!” Asura yelled before flying up and plunging the blade into the giant angel's chest. She cut a line up through the shoulder and then across the skull. The humanoid burst into a shower of red sparkles and she let out a victorious yell. “Hah! I wi-- ugh!” She was sent hurtling down to the ground. Her back smoked a little from where all the ray spells hit her. “Owie.” She looked about at the multitude of angels still standing. “Well, we have a lot of work to do. Come on!” she yelled and charged forward, her dragon at her side.

  The two fought through the opposing forces, her body soon dripping with sweat as exhaustion threatened to overtake her. Soldier by soldier the angels were pushed back, their numbers streaming from the tunnel in the back slowly decreasing. The demons fell as well, their numbers dwindling as the fight went on, forcing Asura to try her best to keep them from being overwhelmed. Finally, after her muscles had become so sore she could barely hold her sword, angels stopped flowing in from the tunnel and she managed to quickly eliminate the rest of their numbers. The moment they were gone she turned and ran the way she came. “Hurry up!” she yelled to her dragon.

  Asura barely managed to make it into the tunnel before the chamber began shaking. The hole the angels came through suddenly exploded and smoke shot out to envelope the demons. She gulped and watched the smog, waiting for it to clear.

  After a few minutes she could make out shapes in the thick smoke. A half dozen normal angels were standing, the bodies of the demons littering the room. Behind them stood a large angel, much like the goliathan ones she had already fought, except his armor was encrusted with precious gems, gold and lines of blue lights moved throughout each crack in the armor, repairing them. She took a deep breath.

  “Wow... that must be Samael,” She glanced to the dragon. “He's one of the high angels. Well, he was. Back in the lore of the game. He actually fell in this battle and... why am I even telling you this?” she asked before shaking her
head. “Not like you can even understand it. Okay, here's how this is going.” She moved besides the dragon and motioned to the large angel. “I need you to keep him distracted. Defensive style. Try to avoid attacks, but keep him from fighting with me.” She smiled and gently patted the dragon's snout. “This is what our training was for. If you can keep him distracted long enough for me to defeat the others, we can win this. I just need a few minutes to rest.” She dropped to the ground and wiped the sweat from her face. Fortunately, the large angel didn't move and, after the exhaustion leaked from her body, she got to her feet. She tapped on the air a few times and a small satchel formed on her hip. “Break!” she said before drawing both her blades and charged forward.

  The six smaller angels readied their weapons. Samael lifted his right hand towards the girl, but was suddenly knocked back when a small black blur slammed into his face. Her dragon bit and clawed at the large angel's face before flying off, drawing him away.

  Asura held out her hands. “Ray burst!” Rays shot out and enveloped the winged fighters, knocking them back. “Fireball!” Flames shot out from her hands and surrounded the angels again as they cried out. She jumped back and readied her blade when two of the angels burst from the smoke and flew straight at her. She held out her hand and smirked. “Ice shield.” A wall of ice formed in front of her right as the angels closed in. One veered off, but the other slammed into it face first. She stabbed out with her sword, cutting through the ice and beheading the angel so it disappeared into red sparkles. “Whew. One down, five to go.”

  She shrieked and stepped to the right when a ray shot by her head. “Easy!” One of the angels dived at her, slashing down. She brought her own sword up to catch the blade and her left hand shot up to stab right under the chin. With it stunned, she quickly stepped to the left and jammed her sword through its chest. It disappeared into red sparkles a moment later.