The Slayer

by Darren Hultberg Jr

  “Please! Please help me!” He cried, his voice distressed and stricken with panic.

  “What is it?” I said, rushing up to meet the man.

  “It…. It came from the lake. It devoured two of my Elken and chased off the rest. Please, you look formidable enough… can you get rid of it for me!”

  “Alright, point me to it.” I said, not giving myself any time to think about the decision.

  Quest Accepted:

  It came from the lake

  “It’s there, behind the farm.” He yelled. I nodded, then waived the other two on as we made our way around back.

  I felt anxious as we circled the house, noticing that the grass was littered with chunks of flesh and small pools of blood. What the hell had done this?

  I quickly had my answer.

  Gnawing on the leg bone of a fallen elken was a rather disturbing sight. At first glance I thought the creature to be a lion, though its scaly body quickly proved otherwise. Its long mane was a strange greenish color, its texture a closer resemblance to seaweed than hair. The spaces between its taloned fingers were adorned with tiny webbings. The creature drew a long breath from its maw, causing its gills to retract back into its neck.

  Leodronne

  Aquatic beast

  Level: 7

  My remaining health was still quite low, though a bit of it had regenerated. I had to hope it would be enough… for without warning the creature leapt forward, claws outstretched and ready to strike.

  14

  I summoned nevermore to my hand as the leodronne approached, barely getting the blade up as the beast’s talons came crashing in. I blocked its initial strike, but the weight of the creature slammed into me full force, knocking me to the ground and pinning me under hundreds of pounds of muscle.

  I winced as the beast opened its maw, preparing itself to bite down on my neck. This was it….

  CRACK!

  The leodronne recoiled as Hilda’s mace smacked into its skull, cutting the creatures health bar by a third. Helena arrived next, raising her hands and sending forth a bolt of shadow energy that seared the beasts flesh, sending it into full retreat.

  The leodronne roared in frustration as it clawed its way back towards the lake… as if it thought it was getting away.

  I leveled my blade and activated lunging strike. My muscles twitched as I leapt forward and slammed my obsidian sword into the back of the creature’s head. The leodronne slumped over, quite dead, its blood flowing freely into the murky lake.

  +50 Exp

  I rose from my crouch, yanking my blade free from the beast’s corpse…. Wait a minute… corpse?

  “What the hell is going on?” Helena said as she took a look around the area, her face wearing a look of skepticism. Pieces of elken lay strewn about the grass, as well as the corpse of the leodronne that sat on the shore of the lake.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this in AGO before.” Hilda said as she lifted a bloody elken stump off the ground. “Everything we ever killed before… well, it disappeared. There was hardly any blood, at least not like this.” She looked to Helena, but the warlock merely shrugged, unsure of what to make of it either.

  I listened in, but the approach of the old man grabbed my attention. Oddly, his face still looked panicked.

  I turned my back to the lake to greet him. “It’s dead.” I said assuredly, pointing down to the dead Leo.

  “That… that’s not it!” The man squeaked out. His hands were shaking as he gestured back towards the lake. My brow furrowed. What the hell was he talking about?

  Suddenly, I heard the ripple of water, followed by the feeling of hot breath on the back of my neck. Both Hilda and Helena’s eyes had gone wide… I was certain that I did not want to turn around.

  Slowly I shifted to meet the creature behind me face to face. Its head was nearly half the size of my body, elongated, reptilian-like and covered with glistening blue scales. At the tip of its snout sat a jagged, black horn. Two glossy yellow eyes looked at me fondly, like a meal ready to be devoured.

  I winced as I gave the beast a quick inspection.

  Horned Drake

  Beast

  Level:14

  Sweat began to build on my brow as another rush of hot breath left the drake’s snout. Dare I run?

  Suddenly, the drake bared it teeth, causing me to flinch in the slightest of ways. Instinctively, the creature snapped forward, locking its jaw around my thigh. Ripples of pain pulsed through my leg as sharp teeth punctured soft flesh.

  Hilda lunged for me, her fingers even grazed my arm… but ultimately, she could do nothing as the beast dragged me into the murky depths.

  <><>

  Panicked, blinded, and gasping for air… I was certain that’s how I was going to die.

  The drake dived down into the surprisingly deep lake, dragging me along as I flailed like a wounded animal. Blood continued to pour from my wounds, mixing with the murky water and making it nearly impossible to see. I needed to focus, needed to find a way to escape, but I just couldn’t seem to shake the panic that clouded my mind.

  My HP continued to tick away. 11,10, 9….

  I tried to summon nevermore back to my hand, having lost it in the scuffle, but I just couldn’t achieve the level of concentration required to do so. I was going to die… Damnit all I was actually going to die!

  Coherent thoughts faded from my mind as more primal instincts took over. I ripped a throwing knife out of my bandolier, curled my body forward and slashed it through the water. I hit nothing.

  7,6…

  Again, I slashed forward. This time the blade stuck!

  Grievous Wound inflicted

  The pressure on my leg subsided as the Drake’s jaw unclenched, the creature now much more concerned with the small knife lodged into its eye.

  I reached for the surface of the water, but it seemed so far away, and I felt far too weak to struggle. Slowly I sank until finally my back rested against the lake’s jagged floor…. My water grave…

  It was then that I noticed something… strange.

  Dirt and muck that was once stuck to the lake’s bottom began to swirl around in the water, revealing a soft blue glow emanating from beneath. I rotated my body to get a better look. Below me, beneath the muck was at least a dozen raw veins of Aether!

  Several tiny bursts of light rose from the Aether, spinning around me before swimming off into the darkness of the lake… were those sprites?

  It didn’t matter really… my lungs were devoid of air, the water around me was quickly filling with my own blood… I was finished.

  A blurry figure approached from above, swimming aggressively towards my helpless form. It was the drake coming back for its meal.

  I steeled myself, clenching my jaw so tightly it hurt. Damnit all, get it over with already…

  A powerful force slammed into my back, propelling me through the water just out of the drake’s grasp. It sent me soaring upward through the lake so quickly that I had to close my eyes!

  Suddenly I broke the surface of the water. Fresh air filled my lungs as my body flew forward and I flopped back onto the shore.

  “Zander!” I could hear their cries of relief, though I wasn’t certain if it was the guardian or the warlock, or both. It didn’t matter right that moment. First, I had to see what had saved my life… what had come out of the Aether.

  I turned onto my back and stared up at the being before me. Well… it wasn’t a being really, or at least not one by my standards. Hovering above me was a small glowing orb of light. It rotated in the air, it’s size ever-changing, ever-shifting. I reached forward, cautiously pressing a finger to the light. The orb reacted to my touch. It began to change… growing, stretching, taking form as it morphed into something more recognizable, something a bit… alarming,

  Standing on my chest was a miniaturized version of the creature that had nearly taken my life; a blue, scaly horned drake.

  Reacting out of fear, I rolled to my right,
tossing the creature to my side before scrambling back into the grass. Hilda cocked her mace at the little beast, ready to smash it to pieces as soon as the opportunity arose.

  “No.” The tiny drake said in a meek, almost child-like voice. It brought her pause. Did that thing just speak? No, it couldn’t have…

  Waves crashed over us as the large drake emerged from the lake, it’s one good eye filled with rage as it locked on to our group.

  Hilda pivoted, changing directions as she charged at the larger beast, raising her mace for a crushing blow. The beast snapped forward out of the water. It was much quicker than the armored woman and slammed its horn into her stomach, knocking her away with brutal force.

  “You scaly bastard.” Helena said as she raised her hands into the air.

  Immolate!

  A wave of fire slammed into the drake, shaving off some of the creature’s health bar but doing little to subdue its rage. The beast responded in kind, rotating its body so that its tail slammed into Helena like a whip. The tail carried her body over the lake, launching her into the water as the beast finished its rotation. Then, once again… the drake turned to me.

  Here I was, alone again, the only one left standing to face down the enormous drake… or was I?

  “Zzzzzzander.” A meek voice called my name, a voice I didn’t recognize. I wanted to look around, but the drake was beginning its approach.

  “Zzzander.” The voice was a bit clearer this time.

  “Who’s there!?” I yelled before rolling out of the way, barely dodging the horned Drake’s deadly charge.

  “Zzzander... must survive… must… bond.”

  I rose back to my feet and began to run, trying to put some distance between me and the enormous creature. I took s quick glance around but still, nobody was there.

  The drake pursued me, using it claws to propel itself across the ground, cutting off my escape. I braced myself…. The creature was about to strike!

  “Zaaaaander!” From the corner of my eye, I spotted the source of that meek little voice. It wasn’t human, and it certainly wasn’t another player. The voice was coming from the mouth of the miniature drake, the creature that had spawned from the Aether!

  Without any other options and a hellacious reptilian staring me down, I reached for the smaller beast. What was I thinking?!

  It leapt towards me. My fingers grazed its scaly back…

  Suddenly the area around me went dark, as if I’d been transported away from my lakeside predicament. I blinked my eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness. Thankfully, it didn’t last, for a soft blue light began glow from afar. A steady illumination.

  The light grew closer, eating away at my shadowy surroundings until it nearly consumed me. It flooded me with warmth, with strength! I felt a growing feeling of readiness, an urge to act, as if I had just taken a shot of adrenaline. Was… was this more Aether?

  “Zander Darkblade.” The voice had followed me. It sounded more distinguished, more mature even, though I could still tell it was the same. It spoke my name much louder than it had before.

  “Y-yes.” I responded, floating helplessly as I bathed in the blue light.

  “Zander Darkblade… the Aether… you seem… worthy… must bond.”

  “Bond? Wait, what do you mean?”

  “Time… is short! The… the world breakers will return. Will you… accept… the bond?”

  The thought of the rampaging drake was still fresh in my mind. It was going to ravage me the second I returned to my body. For all I know it could already be tearing me to shreds! I had to take a chance.

  “Yes! Do it!” Suddenly the blue light consumed me, enveloping my body and leaving me blinded. It felt… empowering.

  <><>

  My eyes shot open. I was back on the lakeshore, just mere seconds from being gored by the horned drake. Still, this was different. The smaller drake at my fingertips melted away, turning into s soft blue light that crept up arm and over my body. The light solidified, forming into shimmering sapphire plates that interconnected over my leather armor. More plates stretched over my face, forming a helm with small slits that resembled the face of the horned drake. This creature had granted me… plate armor.

  The light continued to move over my body, pooling in my hand before stretching out and solidifying into the shape of a massive blade! The weapon was light, just as light the armor was, and yet gripping it granted me a surge of strength. I couldn’t explain any of it…. but whatever that small drake had done, he’d given me a chance.

  The larger drake barreled in, crashing into my plated chest before I could properly react. It was an attack that should’ve killed me, but instead it did little more than knock me off my feet. I lifted the blade as I rose, it’s long serrated edge curved like the turbulent waves of the ocean. The blade was masterly crafted.

  With a swing, I sliced the blade through the neck of the drake. It cut through the creature so cleanly, so effortlessly… it was amazing!

  The beast tried to back away, but the blade remained lodged, blood running down its sharp edge. I held the over-sized pommel with one hand and reached out with the other, calling forth the obsidian blade nevermore. With a hefty swing, I slammed the dark sword into the other side of the drake’s neck, eliciting a mighty roar of agony.

  The beast wavered, it’s eyes met mine for the briefest of seconds. Then, in one swift motion, I pulled the blades toward one another, removing the drake’s head.

  The creatures decapitated body fell to the ground, it’s blood draining into the already murky lake. Again, the creatures body didn’t fade as dead creatures once had before. It was puzzling, but there would be time to investigate that later. After… after I… what was it that I was doing again? My mind and body had grown so weary that I could barely form a coherent thought. The sapphire blue armor I once wore faded into a smoky mist as I began my descent, collapsing onto the ground next to the drake. I peered into the sky trying to make sense of my thoughts, but they were a wash. My consciousness faded, eyes slowly closing as two moons shone brightly back at me.

  15

  Year of Rebirth 0004

  Adam… Adam can you hear me?

  A strangely familiar voice echoed through my mind. That name… Adam… who was it again? Was it… me?

  No, I was Zander Darkblade… or was I Adam? Or was I both? It was all so confusing, and that nagging pain in my head…

  My eyes slowly opened, forcing that voice in my head to vanish, and with it, the dull pain that accompanied.

  My surroundings were unfamiliar. I was in a small room constructed of light-colored wood and decorated with simple red drapes … and was I lying in a bed? That was unexpected… but pleasant. The bed was actually quite cozy.

  “Finally awake, huh.” Hilda’s voice startled me. I turned to see her perched on a small wooden stool, her posture slumped as she leaned forward on her large aegis shield, Corvus.

  “What… happened?” I asked before peeling away my rose-colored sheet. I half expected to find my body covered in wounds, but surprisingly I looked fine. The circular gauge surrounding my vision was completely red. My HP was full… but how?

  Hilda straightened herself in her set as she spoke. “You don’t remember? That drake… well the big one, it was tearing us apart. Then, that smaller drake appeared out of the water and turned into armor, or gave it to you… I’m not really sure how it works. But anyways, you formed this sword in your hand and ended up killing the thing. And with only 3 HP to spare.”

  Ah, yes. It was coming back to me now… that miniature drake had requested a bond with me, but had I completed it?

  “Where is that thing, anyways?”

  Hilda’s eyes shifted towards the end of the bed. I propped myself up on my elbows and peered past my still-covered feet. My eyes went wide.

  There was the small horned drake, it’s eyes peering back at me over the edge of the bed.

  I patted the area next to me, calling the creature up like a dog. Its eyes nar
rowed.

  “I am not a pet.” The drake growled, pausing as it enunciated each word. It almost sounded like an angry child.

  “Oh. Sorry.” I replied. What was I supposed to do? The drake was about the size of a small dog, after all.

  Begrudgingly, the little beast climbed up onto the bed and took a seat next to me. Our eyes met for the first time, not just a passing glance in the midst of combat, but really met. I could feel a connection between us. It almost felt magnetic, like we were being drawn together.

  “Are we…”

  “Bonded?” The drake replied. “We have... begun a bond... yes. Soon a full binding will occur.” The creature was already talking better than when it first emerged from the Aether, though its lines still carried a number of unnecessary pauses.

  I nodded, though I didn’t fully understand what all of this meant. “So, that means your my… familiar?”

  “That is a name we have been… given. It is… acceptable.”

  “Well, what do I call you?” The creature stared at me as if it was contemplating the question. After a long pause it finally uttered….

  “Razyr.”

  I gave the creature a quick inspection.

  Razyr

  Valor Familiar (Bonded)

  I nodded again. “Well, thank you for coming when you did. That power you granted me,”

  “It was temporary.” Razyr responded. “We will not be able to do that again… not without much… practice.”

  “Why not?” I replied, puzzled.

  “Your body… it had a built-up reserve of… Aether. I used it all to… arm you. To do that again…we must train. We must… further our bond.”

  “We will.” I said assuredly. I would need the power if I was going to defeat Vazryn and return to… where was it that I was going back to again?