by Phoenix Grey
"Just hang on. I'll give you a healing potion," Lonnell told him.
Azure wanted to glance back and see what was going on, but he knew better. Velte was looking past him, clearly distracted by the discussion.
"Eyes over here!" he teased as he swung his sword at an arch, faking her out.
Velte's attention wasn't deterred. At first, Azure thought that was to his advantage. While he had held his sword up high, he'd swung down low, but the Death Eater had her own secret move planned. She spun around, hitting Azure with her wings and knocking him back, but not before his blade had managed to slice a good few inches into her leg.
Velte cried out, falling down to one knee. She brought her hands up to her chest, preparing to cast. Azure raised his buckler to dodge, but the spell shot past him.
"Gah!" came the harrowing scream. And just like that, Sir Thornton's name dropped from Azure's vision.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE REALM – Day 56
A momentary distraction. That was all it took. Thinking they knew what was going on, but not really knowing at all. Giving voice to words that left them vulnerable.
It was pretty obvious what had happened, but they had no time to react or mourn. Lonnell was now battling the last of the skeletal warriors one on one. He had struck the killing blow to the second one just as Velte had hit Sir Thornton with her dark magic spell. A death and a death, evening the score.
Azure's heart clenched in his chest, but only for a moment. He made the mistake of turning to look as soon as Sir Thornton's stats had disappeared from his peripheral vision, and Velte used the distraction to break past his defenses, hitting him at close range with another dark magic ball and pushing him back. He tripped over his own feet and landed hard on his ass.
Critical hit! Level 12 Death Eater delivers 50 damage.
It was a stupid error, but how could he have not looked. Death of a comrade was still such a surreal thing. Azure thought that Uden's demise would have prepared him for it, but it hadn't.
His attention was wrenched back to his current foe, and the fear of death welled up within him. Velte pounced on Azure, blade drawn. With only 31 Health points left, it wouldn't be long before he joined Sir Thornton. Considering how much damage the Death Eater did, one good stab of her dagger should put an end to him.
He drew his leg up and kicked Velte in the stomach just as she was about to plunge her dagger into the center of his chest where her dark magic ball had eaten away his armor. The kick deflected her, causing the Death Eater to stumble back. Azure desperately shoved his hand into his bag to reach for healing potions, pulling out two, ripping out the corks with his teeth and pouring the contents into his mouth. His hands were trembling, and he didn't have time to get it all down before Velte was on him again. She stood over him with a wicked grin, charging up another dark ball of energy between her hands before thrusting it at him. Azure rolled to the side to dodge, dropping what was left in the vials, the contents running down his cheeks and into his hair, healing him for only about one potion's worth. A waste, he thought, mourning the loss of the potions more than Sir Thornton.
When he felt a sharp pain in his back, hope drained out with his blood.
Level 12 Death Eater delivers 40 damage.
Azure only had 8% of his Health left. He was so weak that even adrenaline wasn't giving him the strength to throw the winged creature off of him. She had the advantage, straddling his ass. The heavy armor he donned was weighing him down. How she'd had the brawn to stab through it, he'd never know.
A pained hiss left Azure's lips as Velte drew the dagger out of his back. He choked, his eyes scanning across the floor to where Sir Thornton's body lay next to a heap of bones. This was it. He was done.
As if sensing his surrender, Velte grabbed Azure by the hair, pulling his head back. He saw the glint of her blade in his peripheral vision. The crimson of his blood freshly clinging to it was eerily beautiful.
This is going to hurt, he thought, a tear slipping from the corner of one eye from the raw emotion of having given up.
There was a sick slicing sound and a scream of pain. Azure's face hit the floor, and heaviness fell on him. Slender arms were outstretched in front of him, the dagger in one hand. He couldn't move.
A jolt to his body and there was sudden weightlessness. Velte groaned next to him, turning to get up. Lonnell's voice roared in anger, and then metal ground against stone. The Death Eater's eyes went wide, and black blood gurgled forth from her mouth. Then she stilled.
Azure stared at her, and she stared back until she began to disintegrate much like Uden had when he had died.
Defeated Level 12 Death Eater. 108XP rewarded.
"Are you all right?" Lonnell's voice was a distant echo. He fell to his knees next to Azure, turning him over.
"Is it over?" Azure asked, his hand already moving to his bag for his last remaining Portion of Minor Healing.
"Yes. We won." Lonnell offered him a soft smile. "It was," he inhaled deeply, "incredibly close, but we won."
Azure poured the cool red liquid into his mouth, only feeling marginally better from its healing properties. He let the empty vial slip from his hand, rolling across the floor, and his head fell in the direction where Sir Thornton laid. “It was too close. This was a bad idea.”
Lonnell hummed in thought. “We didn't die. It worked out in the end.”
"We didn't die." Azure pointed between them. "He, most certainly, is no longer alive." He gestured to Sir Thornton.
Lonnell's voice took on a serious tone. “It's a noble death to die for your lord.”
"Well, it would not have been noble for me." Azure sat up finally. "I have no lord. Nor do I want one. Nor would I want to die for one's quest. We are not taking any more Very Hard quests. At least, I'm not. The last one killed Uden, and you just saw how this one played out."
"You may rethink that when we trade in our loot." Lonnell smirked at him.
"I won't. You weren't the one who almost died. But speaking of loot." Azure pulled himself off the floor and walked over to the box. Lonnell joined him.
For several seconds, they simply stood there looking at the box in awe of what lay inside.
"You should open it. This was your quest." Azure stepped aside to allow his friend to do the honors.
Lonnell unclasped the silver locking mechanism and slowly lifted the lid of the box. The staff lay upon a bed of red crushed velvet. It was long and smooth, appearing to be made of some type of polished white wood that was softly tapered. A round notch at the wider end housed the blue diamond that had once adorned Gaia's forehead. The gem was not solid, though. Whirls of white spun through it, as if it were filled with life essence trying to find a new home but trapped inside of the stone.
"It is exquisite," Lonnell said what they were both thinking before hesitantly reaching down to lift the staff from the box. Just before his hands touched it, he recoiled and closed the lid.
"I bet this thing is worth a fortune." Azure's greed swelled. He didn't have to examine the staff's stats to know that it was a one-of-a-kind item.
"We're not selling it," Lonnell sharply cut through his thoughts.
"I hadn't assumed we were," Azure replied. Their quest wouldn't be complete until they turned the staff in. He inhaled deeply, happy that the whole ordeal was almost over. "Well, I guess we should load this thing up and get out of here. The sooner we return to Squall's End and claim our reward, the sooner we can take a much-needed rest. Well, I can, at least. I don't care what you do, but I want a day off." He walked over to Velte and knelt to loot her body. "I wonder if anything on her is valuable besides her weapon."
You have received the following item:
Black Dagger
Attack: +1-10
Type: One-Handed Weapon
Durability: 17/20
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.4 kg
Very nice, Azure thought. The stats of this dagger were way bette
r than his Starter Dagger. It was a no brainer to switch the two weapons out.
"I'm not going to turn the staff in," Lonnell said abruptly.
"What do you mean?" Azure gave him a queer look.
"Sir Thornton is dead." Lonnell's eyes moved over to the deceased knight. "No one has to know we actually got the staff."
Azure quirked an eyebrow. “They'll know when we leave the dungeon and it disappears.”
Lonnell chewed on that thought for a moment. “If no one is outside when we leave, then no one has to know. We can report in that he died and we weren't able to recover the staff due to being underpowered.”
Azure didn't like where this was going. “And then forfeit our reward. After I almost died!”
"I'm not giving up the staff, Azure," Lonnell insisted as he shoved the box into his Bag of Holding.
"Then what was the point of all of this?" Azure stood and threw his hands up in exasperation.
"I'm going to take the staff back to Crescent Island and use it to revive Uden. I know that seems selfish. The staff only has one charge. And Uden has done a lot of bad things, but―”
Azure held his palm up to silence his friend. “You don't need to say anything more. I am on board with this plan.”
Lonnell's shoulders dropped from released tension, and he sighed. “Good, because it wasn't optional.”
Azure laughed and shook his head. “Look at you getting all bossy.”
Lonnell didn't get the joke. “This is important to me.”
Azure walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It is important to both of us, brother. If it works, then the quest was well worth the sacrifice.”
I might have just traded one asshole for another, Azure thought with a smirk as he stared down at Sir Thornton's lifeless body. Then a thought occurred to him. "So, which one of us gets his armor? That is some sweet ass armor."
"If we're going to play out this lie fully, we should turn his armor in to The Adventurers Guild as a show of faith. Maybe they'll even still give us part of the reward for trying," Lonnell said, sounding hopeful.
Azure sulked. “Doubtful.”
"Regardless, it would look awfully suspicious if we canceled the quest yet one of us was walking around wearing his armor. People might even think that we killed him."
It was fairly sound logic. Still, Azure couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. “Are we going to turn in the armor we've been wearing, too?”
"No. I think it's okay for us to keep this. Sir Thornton has no use for it now."
He doesn't have any use for his armor or sword either, Azure wanted to say, but he understood Lonnell's reasoning.
"Well, I suppose we should finish looting everything and get out of here." He stared down at the skeletal warriors. Technically, his looting was done. Having no part in dispatching of the skeletons, he didn't feel deserving of that loot. Instead, he went to strip Sir Thornton, laying the items at his side so that Lonnell could carry them since his inventory was full.
"You know, technically the Death Eater kill goes to me," Lonnell said as he knelt to loot the first skeletal warrior.
"Oi. Fair is fair, bro. You guys would have been dead long ago if I hadn't kept her distracted. And I did gain XP from the kill." Azure was not about to give up the Black Dagger.
"You would have been dead if I hadn't saved you at the last minute," Lonnell reminded him.
"Are you being serious right now?" Azure gave Lonnell a dry look. When he saw his friend smirking, he relaxed. Lonnell was just giving him a hard time. Why did he always sound so serious, though?
Azure waited for Lonnell to finish looting the skeletons. When Lonnell placed the last buckler in his Bag of Holding, there was a strange sound of stones shifting as a door appeared in the wall at the back of the room―their way out of the dungeon and back to the surface.
"So, what do we do if there are people out there when we leave?" Azure asked as they walked toward the door.
"Hopefully there won't be."
"But what if there are?" He glanced at Lonnell for an answer.
"Let's just hope there's not." There was a darkness to his tone that suggested it would not be good for anyone who stood in his way.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE REALM – Day 56
The Gods were kind enough to leave the exit of the dungeon without onlookers. Azure half-suspected that they might have had to kill someone if they couldn't have lied their way out of things.
The Adventurers Guild was none too pleased when they turned in Sir Thornton's armor and canceled the quest. Despite Lonnell trying to reason with them about the difficulty of the quest, he earned his first strike. Azure, on the other hand, did not earn a strike since it was not his quest, of which he was relieved. Lonnell put on a good face about being upset until they were outside of The Adventurers Guild standing in front of a merchant to sell their loot. It pained Azure a bit that they hadn't received a reward. He had deeply desired the Medium Bag. Having Lonnell cart around the majority of his loot was annoying. Without his friend by his side to work as a pack mule, Azure wasn't sure what he would do the next time he entered a dungeon and ran out of space in his inventory. The thought of having to leave anything behind when money was so hard to come by in The Realm was highly unpleasant.
Jealousy snaked through Azure when Lonnell's share of the loot netted him forty-two gold, seven silver, and six copper. It was an insane amount. Way more than Azure had ever expected either of them to be able to make, even combined.
Once Lonnell had collected his coin, he placed Azure's loot on the cart for the merchant to tally up. Azure did the same, holding his breath as the merchant began to examine each item. The Scriptures of Dyasitet was the first item that the merchant looked at, offering him one copper.
Just my luck. I bet most of my stuff is worthless, Azure thought dryly, and for the most part, he was right. Two of his items made up the difference, though. The Enlivened Sandals sold for eight gold. But the most expensive loot he had, by far, was the Cultist Necklace, which went for a whopping thirty-six gold.
Azure held back tears of joy as he looked at the stack of coins on the merchant's cart, all of which were for him. An unbelievable sum of forty-six gold, five silver, and six copper.
"We're no longer poor," he told Lonnell, feeling an excitement welling within him that he hadn't experienced in a very long time.
"Still upset that we didn't get the reward?" Lonnell jabbed him in the side with his elbow.
Azure simply shook his head, the words caught in his throat.
What was better than earning the money though was spending it. The very first purchase Azure made was the Small Bag of Holding he'd had his eye on for the longest time. Even though it came with a hefty price tag of twenty-five gold coins, he now wouldn't have to worry so much about his inventory slots.
You have received the following item:
Small Bag of Holding
Inventory Slots: 100
Weight Capacity: 113.4 kg
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Average
Weight: 6.8 kg
His old bag was soulbound, so he couldn't sell it, but that didn't matter.
Next, he filled his quiver with steel arrows. Each one added +16 attack and could be used twice. Fifty of them cost seven gold.
His final purchase was a mix of alchemy components and vials to create Potions of Minor Healing, since it was waaay cheaper to make them than to buy them. Everything in total to create twenty potions cost one gold.
While Azure was tempted to upgrade his weapons and armor, he decided to wait. He still had magic school to pay for, and he doubted that he'd be fighting many monsters while he attended. Plus, he needed to save eight gold back to pay rent at the inn, since he no longer wished to share a room with Lonnell.
With their business concluded, the two men headed to the tavern for celebratory drinks. Knowing he was going to take the next day off, Azure downed three Pints of Beer in quick success
ion before tapping out. Lonnell kept up and drank an extra beer, and they helped each other back up to their room, swaying and slurring as they talked about how relieved they both were to not have to worry about money for a while.
Your relationship with Lonnell has reached Level 5. Your relationship has been updated from Friend to Loyal. Thanks to Gaia's Staff, you and Lonnell share a great secret. In reward for agreeing to his plan to not turn the staff in to The Adventurers Guild, you will never have to worry about Lonnell selling you out under any circumstance. Congratulations!
Despite likely having a horrible hangover, Lonnell left early the next morning to buy passage back to Crescent Island. To Azure's surprise, he didn't bother visiting Bronna first, not wanting to tell her what was going on until he was certain that he could bring Uden back from the dead. The guy had crumbled into dust, after all. And Lonnell honestly wasn't sure how a staff of Life would work on a creature with a naturally dark affinity. Whatever the case, they both hoped that Lonnell would be successful.
Azure was given the option to tag along but decided he'd rather stay in Squall's End and spend his time attending magic school. Besides, if Uden was able to be resurrected, Azure wanted something cool to show him when they returned. He was honestly a bit surprised that resurrecting Uden hadn't been offered as a quest, but then again, he wasn't sure if he would have accepted anyway. The thought of being stuck on a ship again wasn't very appealing. Sure, there were still places on Crescent Island that he hadn't explored yet, but life was admittedly a lot more fun in Squall's End. There was so much more to do and so many more ways to make money. He was sure that Uden wouldn't fault him for not wanting to be there for his grand reappearance, even if it might have been cool to see Lonnell bring him back from the dead. That had to be some snazzy magic. If anything, that would be his only regret for not going.