by Logan Jacobs
Our ass kicking trio was ready to go.
I was going to kill a bunch of skeletons, find some treasure, and break the curse on Lake Balerno.
Just your average day in the life of a god.
Chapter Eleven
We made our way to the city limits while the sun warmed our backs, but the stench of dead fish and rotting vegetation in the malignant water urged us to pick up our pace. Finally, we escaped into the underbrush of the forest that surrounded the other side of Lake Balerno, and the air was cooler and more sweet smelling than the open area on the outskirts of town.
I inhaled greedily as I led our trio to the burial sanctum, and I kept my eyes peeled for the skeletons, but if they were anything like the undead remains I’d encountered in various video games, then they would have a specific territory they were guarding. That meant they would only attack us once we got close to the sanctum.
I made a new save point when the burial grounds came into view, but I had a feeling I would be saving and reloading a lot in the day ahead of me, since I was aiming for one hundred percent completion of every part of the sanctum.
Moments later, I heard the clacking sound of the skeleton’s bones coming from my right, and out of the shadows beneath the trees came a walking, anatomically correct, skinless skeleton.
“Die!” I roared as I unsheathed my sword and charged toward it, and I slashed it in a wide downward arc as I approached. My blade hacked off his sword arm, and the bones went flying into the woods until they bounced off a nearby tree.
The skeleton opened and closed its jaw repeatedly, which made a clicking, snapping type of sound, and I assumed it was his best attempt at a scream.
I decided to put the thing out of its misery, so I swung my feather sword around again and severed its skull from its spine. Then the decapitated head fell to the forest floor and rolled down the slight incline toward Elissa.
“Bash!” the fiery redhead gasped, and she started to backpedal to get away from the skull rolling toward her like a kickball.
Meanwhile, the rest of the skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones in front of me, and then they started to glow a light blue color. The arm bone that clutched the ancient sword flew across the ground and into the pile like a magnet, and the pieces all began to shift and move.
“Shit.” I watched in horror, but I knew in my gut what was happening. The bastard was reforming because it wasn’t completely dead yet, but how was I supposed to kill an undead being besides chopping off its head?
I rushed forward and began to hack and kick at the pile so the pieces couldn’t reform, but no matter how far apart they were, they still came back like they were magnetized to the spot, all except for the skull. I slashed at the joints with my sword and stabbed my dagger into the hollow where the skeleton’s heart should be, but nothing worked.
Suddenly, a bone-crushing crashing sound came from behind me, and the pile of bones fell back to the ground. As the glowing blue haze started to fade, I swiveled around to find a giant rock at Elissa’s feet, and I realized she’d crushed the skull after it had rolled down the incline toward her.
Team Bash: 1, Undead Skeletons: 0
I hadn’t even needed to reset to handle the first task of this mini quest, and I had a feeling it was because my power grew with each challenge I faced. I was stronger and faster every day I woke up in this world, and my women were becoming more badass, too.
“You did it, Lissy!” I grinned. “You killed the skeleton!”
“You crushed it!” Mahini gushed at the same time.
“That was a heavy rock,” Elissa panted as she pushed her hair away from her face.
“You’re a pro skull crusher,” I laughed, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.
“A pro?” Elissa cocked her head to the side.
“A professional skull crusher,” I repeated as I nodded emphatically. “Actually, that’s your new nickname. Skullcrusher.”
“Skullcrusher?” Mahini asked like she was experimenting with the word. Then she nodded firmly. “Skullcrusher it is.”
“Oh, my,” Elissa said as a wide grin spread across her face. “That sounds like a scary name. I like it.”
“Alright, Skullcrusher,” Mahini teased as she took Elissa’s hand. “That will be your task for the rest of the day. Crush the skulls of all the undead.”
“I can do that,” Elissa giggled. “I wasn’t even scared of it, just surprised.”
“I know, you were very brave,” Mahini said with pride in her voice.
My heart swelled to hear the love shared between my two women. I really did have everything I could want, well, maybe except for magic. I really wanted to learn magic.
But first things first.
“Time to enter the sanctum,” I announced after I scanned the area for any more skeletons.
“Let’s do it,” Mahini replied with a nod.
“Yes, let’s do it,” Elissa mirrored, and she planted her hands on her hips in a heroic stance.
I pulled open the heavy iron doors, and bats swooped out into the daylight with loud screeches. Once the dark cloud had dissipated, I peered into the shadows inside, but the entry was empty, so I ushered the girls inside and followed behind them.
Then I made a new save point, and the tingling sensation creeping over my entire body comforted me and encouraged me to move forward.
We walked down a short hall until we were standing in a small, circular room with alcoves along the wall filled with coffins. I eyed the coffins warily, but our entrance into the room didn’t seem to trigger any enemies, so I relaxed a fraction and looked around. The walls were built with roughhewn, dark gray rock slabs layered over each other in rows, but vegetation grew along every crack, especially on the dome ceiling. There was a musty odor to the air, like the oxygen was over a hundred years old, and I tried to take shallow breaths as I looked around. Then I spotted the chest nestled between two of the burial containers. It had a lock on it, but upon closer inspection, it looked rusty and easily broken.
I slashed at it with my feather sword, but nothing happened, so I tried my dagger. Then I checked the stats on each weapon.
My dagger wasn’t in too bad of shape.
Durability - 84%
Weight - 0.9lbs
Quality - High
Magical Aspect - None
Magical Ability - None
Then I checked my longer blade, and my eyebrows furrowed in dismay at the result.
Durability - 63%
Weight - 0.2lbs
Quality - High
Magical Aspect - Feathering
Magical Ability - None
The durability on my feather sword had dropped dangerously low from my attempts, so I reset back to my save point to try a different approach.
Chime.
I stuck my dagger inside the hook of the lock and jammed it down until it wouldn’t move, and then I used the leverage of the blade and yanked downward. The lock popped off and hit the ground with a loud clang, and I whooped with joy.
“Fuck, yeah.” I pulled off the last few chunks of metal and then pried open the lid. Dust exploded out into my face, and I had to wonder if there were cremated remains inside the chest. I blinked away the dirt and peered inside, and I found a small red potion bottle and three pieces of gold.
I pressed my finger to the potion, but no stats popped up for some reason, so it was a mystery elixir for now. Not the biggest treasure, but this was just the first room. There were probably some really awesome things further inside.
“What did you find, Great One?” Mahini asked as she leaned over my shoulder to look inside the chest.
“A few pieces of gold and a potion with no label.” I shrugged. “I’m not sure what it does, but red usually means health, so let’s save it for later.”
“There’s no label?” Mahini took the bottle from my hand and inspected it herself. “Huh. Could be a poison, it would be dangerous to experiment with unknown potions.”
“Nothing i
s too dangerous for me, remember?” I teased as I scooped up the three gold pieces and threw them into my treasure sack.
Then I turned my attention back to the coffins inside the room. There were three of them, and two already had the lids cracked open. After a quick glimpse inside, I found those two empty, so I moved on to the last one.
I pushed against the heavy stone lid, and it made a loud creaking noise as it slid across the rim, but then the corpse within was revealed. I instinctively reached for my dagger, but the body didn’t move, so I released the breath I’d sucked in and studied the corpse. There were still wide swathes of skin hanging from the bones like the moss that clung to the walls, and the cheeks were hollow and sagging, but this kind certainly looked a lot juicier than the other skeleton we’d fought. This corpse wore a thin, rotted leather armor, and a sword was clutched in its bony fist. The blade was half rusted, and I’d probably need a tetanus shot if I was cut by it, but it would likely fall apart after a single strike, so I continued my inspection of the remains.
The corpse looked pretty dead to me, so I removed the lid enough to search the remains inside, but then I heard a strange rumbling sound.
My eyes shot back to the corpse’s face, and I looked straight into the glowing red orbs within its hollow sockets.
“It’s a zombie!” I gasped as I jumped back and withdrew my feather sword from its scabbard. “Get back!”
Mahini and Elissa quickly followed my instructions and scurried away from the zombie as it began to climb out of its coffin.
The undead moaned as it brandished its sword with its right hand, and then it lunged forward with an uneven gait. It was faster than I expected even though it moved in jerks, and it quickly maneuvered around the chamber in the girls’ direction.
“How do we kill it?” Elissa asked with fear in her voice.
“I’ve got it,” I assured her as I slid in front of my women. “Just stay back.”
I thrust my feather sword forward, but the zombie was surprisingly quick to block my attack with its crude, ancient blade. I scurried backward, and I tried to swing again, but the undead creature swiveled and charged toward Elissa.
I stepped in the way, and I parried his blow with my sword before I knocked his weapon upward and out of the way. The skeleton staggered backward, but then I heard the clicking sound of more of the undead coming from behind me, and I swiveled to see two more had attacked Elissa and Mahini.
Mahini held her own as she slashed her sword through the air and severed her target’s head, but Elissa didn’t stand a chance since her back was to the skeleton.
I wasn’t fast enough to save her, and the undead’s sword cut a deep gash on her neck.
The beautiful redhead cried out in anguish as blood sprayed from her throat, and she collapsed onto the stone floor.
Mahini roared out a battle cry, and the desert goddess shot three arrows into the undead’s back before it turned toward her.
I lunged forward, and I swung my sword in a wide arch. My blade landed on the zombie’s arm, and its hand was severed at the wrist. No blood erupted from the wound, though, and its decaying flesh peeled away from the bone.
“Fuck you, you bastard!” I yelled as I chopped the now unarmed zombie to bits with my feather sword.
The undead laid in pieces on the stone floor, and the chunks of flesh were scattered around me in a wide circle, so I had to step over them to reach my fallen bride.
Fuck this. Time to reload.
Chime.
We entered the sanctum, and I headed straight to the coffin that held the zombie.
“Hey, Mahini,” I said over my shoulder as I began to push the lid away. “Use your dagger to break the lock on that chest over there while I kill this zombie.”
“Zombie?” Elissa asked in a fearful tone as she took a step further away from the coffin.
“Just stay back,” I directed, and I shook my head to dispel the image of her broken body laying on the floor.
“Alright, Bash,” the redhead agreed, and she took up a position near the entrance.
I took a deep breath, and then I pushed the lid the rest of the way off the coffin. The stone screeched from the motion, but I ignored the sound as I focused on the zombie contained within.
The eyes began to glow the angry red I’d seen before, but I didn’t even give the fucker a chance to get up before I shoved my feather sword into its throat. Then I sawed its head off in a few short motions before I finally released the breath I’d been holding.
“Should we crush its skull?” Elissa asked as she tiptoed further into the room to get a better look at my kill. “Just to be safe?”
“Go for it.” I grinned.
The beautiful redhead picked up a large stone that had come loose from the floor, and she hobbled over with her arms full of the rock. Then she climbed up onto the side of the coffin and dropped the flat stone onto the now still zombie’s skull. Unlike the skeleton outside, the zombie’s brains made a wet squelching sound as the rock crushed its skull.
“Ew,” Lissy giggled. “That was fun!”
“Well, get ready for some more fun,” I chuckled as I pecked my wife on the cheek.
When the other two skeletons appeared out from the shadows, I was ready for them, and I quickly freed them of their skulls. Then I kicked one toward Elissa, and she smashed it with her rock, but I stomped my heel down onto the second one to end its life forever.
“Ugh,” Mahini groaned from beside the chest. “I can’t get this lock off.”
“Here, let me.” I moved across the room to the locked chest, and I took out the sorcerer’s dagger as I crossed the distance to where Mahini squatted down in front of the iron lock. I wedged the blade into the hook, and then I once again used the leverage of the weapon to pry open the metal.
The lock snapped off and fell to the floor in pieces, and Mahini gave me a wide-eyed stare.
“You’re incredible, Bash,” she breathed.
“It was nothing,” I argued with a wave of my hand, but I savored the look she gave me for a moment before I turned back to the contents of the chest. I stashed the gold pieces and the red potion bottle inside my sack, and then I made a new save point before we ventured further into the catacombs.
We came across several chambers full of coffins, but I didn’t find any more zombies or undead in them. I did, however, find a few more pieces of gold and the shattered remains of a gemstone. I kept all of it, just in case it would come in handy later, and then we moved on.
The further into the sanctum we delved, the more damp and moldy the walls became until the air was thick and humid but chilled. It was like a basement that had never been opened before, and the cave-like atmosphere swallowed the light of the torch clutched in Elissa’s hand.
A short while later, the tunnel angled downward as we went even deeper underground. We had to be at least two stories below ground level at this point, and I wondered just how big this burial sanctum was. Then the walls changed again, but this time they shifted into horizontal alcoves lined with skeletons. Some were wrapped in burial clothes while others were so old the fabric had all rotted away with the organic parts of the corpses.
“Mahini, shoot them all with your bow,” I instructed the desert goddess, and she obliged me immediately. By the time she’d shot three of the skeletons, a fourth was alerted by the sound of arrows crashing into bones, and the bony creature clacked as it searched for its target.
Mahini’s arrow whistled through the air and landed in the skeleton’s spine, which caused the pieces to explode into a thousand fragments. They rolled across the stone floor and scattered to every corner of the space, and its skull bounced a few times before it stopped moving.
Elissa quickly moved from skeleton to skeleton, and she used her big rock to bash in their skulls.
“Way to go, Skullcrusher,” I complimented her as I bumped my shoulder against hers. “You’ll be a lethal weapon with that thing before the end of the day.”
“I jus
t hope we can save the poor town,” Elissa sighed. “The smell of the lake is worse than these catacombs, in my opinion.”
“Yeah, it was pretty gross.” I frowned as I thought about everything the people of this world had to endure. No wonder I’d been summoned to save them. Then I gave the tiny redhead an encouraging smile. “But I’ll have Lake Balerno uncursed before you can say ‘show me the money.’”
“I do not know what that means,” Elissa giggled and shook her head. “But you always make me laugh, husband.”
“It’s all good,” I laughed. “Let’s keep moving.”
I searched the skeletons wrapped in burial clothes, but I didn’t find anything, so I made a new save point before we continued on deeper into the sanctum.
The light of the torch in Elissa’s hand cast a silhouette of Mahini’s curves onto the stone floor in front of me, and I chuckled as I realized the shortest of our trio was lighting our way. Still, I was hesitant to take the job away from my wife, since it had already come in handy to have my left hand free.
I would need to be able to open coffins and still have my sword in my hand ready to kill whatever leapt out, after all.
We continued in a straight forward direction for a while before we came to an antechamber. It resembled the first chamber of the catacombs, and several coffins filled the alcoves that lined the circular wall, but the space was somehow magically lit with torches jutting out from the stone at every interval. Three pathways led off from the room, and it was anyone’s guess where they ended up.
We’d already traveled about half a mile underground with no end in sight, so the source of whatever curse was afflicting Lake Balerno would likely be in the deepest, darkest cavern at the furthest reaches of the labyrinth. I’d just have to explore every nook and cranny as many times as it took to figure out the puzzle.
Good thing I had all the time in the world.
I made a new save point before I disturbed any of the coffins in the room, and then I took a good look around, but all I saw were some urns on a shelf that sat between two of the sarcophaguses.