by Ramy Vance
Sandy was atop Azrael, which only made sense. She was close to Suzuki, as were the rest of the Mundanes. Stew was hugging his battle cat tight, a smile as wide as the ocean on his face. The rest of the Mundanes looked to be having just as good of a time. The only Mundane who looked even remotely unaffected was Beth. Her face was sharp and serious. Suzuki wondered what she was thinking about. Then he remembered a trick he had learned while fighting through the defense ring. He could speak with Beth telepathically through the use of their familiars. He concentrated on sending Beth his thoughts. Hey, Beth, Suzuki thought. Are you okay? Is something wrong?
Beth looked at Suzuki, her concentration broken for a few seconds. “Just worried, is all,” Beth said.
“Worried about what?”
“It seems like I keep getting closer to losing you. It kinda freaks me out a little. You know, how easily it could happen.”
“That’s exactly how I felt. It’s fucking terrifying.”
“It was different with you. You just heard about what happened. I’ve watched you just slip away for a few moments twice. Don’t do it again, okay?”
Suzuki laughed at the idea he could control whether he was going to die. When he met Beth’s face again, he could see she didn’t think it was funny. “I promise,” Suzuki said. “I’ll try not to end up dead.”
Beth smiled as she leaned forward and gripped the fur of her cat. “Good. That’s all I wanted to hear,” she replied.
Stew had caught up to Suzuki. He playfully ran his cat up, and the two cats nipped at each other while Stew and Suzuki laughed. “So, you know what we’re up against, right?” Stew asked.
Suzuki reached over and tried to shove Stew off his battle cat. “A research facility filled with angels who want to rip us to shreds? Angels grown from the genetic material of a god? Maybe the end of all reality as we know it? Yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea.”
Stew laughed again as he kicked the sides of his cat to speed it up. “Who would have thought we would be trying to save the world from a fucking god, right?”
“Me, obviously. Why do you think I spent so long in VR? That wasn’t a fucking hobby.”
“Fuck off, dude. Glad you pulled through. Seriously. We were all worried for a minute.”
“Dude, what’s there to worry about? I got dragon blood and god genes now. I’m set for life.”
Stew nodded pensively before leaning forward and shouting, “By the power of Gray Skull!”
A little behind the rest of the Mundanes, Suzuki could hear Sandy shouting, “For the love of fuck, Stew, don’t start with that shit!”
The Mundanes rode their battle cats through the jungle, joking and laughing the entire time. It was a good way to take a break from the last few hours. They knew once they got to the facility, they would have to be prepared for whatever came to them. All of them were going to have to be prepared. Really anything could happen.
17
The Mundanes rode east, their battle cats racing as fast as they could through the jungle. As they rode, the jungle petered away until they were in a field. The island was much larger than Suzuki had thought. He hadn’t seen many maps of Middang3ard since he had arrived, but when Chip had spoken of an island, he assumed it was a small piece of land. He was surprised to hear it was roughly the size of Hawaii, which made sense. Hawaii was in fact an island.
As the Mundanes crossed the large field of vibrant green grass, Suzuki noticed there was something in the distance to his left. He pointed it out to Beth, who pulled out her spyglass. She said there was a row of people running down the hill. Chip noted it was in their general direction, and it was worth taking a look. There were many different people living on the island, and anywhere there were people, there was a chance the Dark One would accost them.
The Mundanes turned their battle cats in the direction Beth had glassed, and it was not long before the cats were bounding up the hill.
Suzuki jumped off his steed and approached the running folks, who turned out to be redcap goblins. On the surface, they were not much different from their gray cousins. The only discerning factor was they were completely bald and wore red caps, hence the name.
One of the goblins ran up to Suzuki and threw itself at his feet. This was the first time Suzuki had come across a goblin not actively trying to kill him. He wasn’t quite certain what to make of the gesture but thought it best for him to say something. “Uh, nice to meet you,” he managed.
The goblin threw its arms in the air as it wailed loudly. The rest of the redcaps took notice of the wailing goblin’s prostration and crowded around the Mundanes. “Help us!” the goblins screamed.
The goblin who’d first prostrated itself stood up and wiped its face. It was crying profusely. “They are going to kill us,” the goblin sobbed. “They’ve killed so many. The children! They killed the children!”
Beth knelt in front of the crying goblin and looked at it sternly. “Who killed them?” she asked, her voice soft and comforting despite her demeanor.
“The trolls. The Dark One’s trolls,” the goblin said, pointing toward the horizon.
Beth nodded as she stood. “Guess genetic manipulation isn’t the Dark One’s only plan,” she spat. “He’s still out to terrorize everyone in Middang3ard.” Beth turned back to the redcap and told it, “We’ll take care of them. You all get to safety.”
Beth jumped back on her battle cat and pointed toward where the redcap goblin had indicated. “There have to be a lot of them,” she said. “If they have this many goblins running. Let’s make sure we send the Dark One another message.”
She didn’t wait for anyone to answer. Beth took off toward where the trolls were said to be. The rest of the Mundanes went after her. They crested the hill, and before them were the trolls—a pack of them, at least twenty.
The troll heading the horde, a large beast of a creature with flowing dreadlocked hair and war paint covering his chest, raised his axe high. His other hand gripped the head of a redcap goblin, and he roared at the sight of the Mundanes. He pointed his axe in their direction, and the charge was on.
The Mundanes ran toward the trolls, Beth leading them, her short bow raised, waiting to get close enough to fire. She stood up, balancing herself on the battle cat and, as the trolls closed in, fired ten quick shots that hit the leader of the horde.
The arrows sank into the troll’s body, knocking him off his horse. It was not enough to keep him down, though, and as he stood, he let out another mighty roar. The other trolls rode past him.
Suzuki’s battle cat leapt over the first handful of attackers and landed on one of the stragglers. The cat tore into the troll’s horse, ripping its head from its neck as Suzuki jumped off the cat, bringing his axe down on the troll’s chest. Then he whipped around and sent his axe flying at the nearest troll, hitting it in the back of the head, before calling his axe back to his hand and looking for the next fight.
Beth had also jumped off her cat, which was tearing into whatever it could get its claws on. She pulled out her daggers, and the hum of her lightsaber blades filled the air. She dashed forward, slicing through one of the trolls and ripping his stomach open for his intestines to tumble from. As she turned to look for her next kill, a troll grabbed her by her leather armor and lifted her into the air.
Stew came sailing through the air and tackled the troll. He hadn’t even bothered to draw any of his weapons. He had already entered berserker mode, and his muscles were swollen as he increased in size. He grabbed the troll by the neck and tossed him to the ground before pounding his face in.
The trolls started to regroup, their leader rallying them around him. Even with the Mundanes’ first kills, the trolls still greatly outnumbered them, and they seemed to know this. They pulled out their shields and rushed the Mundanes.
Diana floated into the air above the attackers, her wand drawn, and cast a shielding spell over the rest of the Mundanes. Once the spell was cast, she whipped her wand around again and a bolt of lightning came
hot off its tip, hitting two of the trolls and scorching them.
A troll next to the ones who had just been set aflame ducked and launched his axe at Diana. It hit her in the shoulder, knocking her from the air, and she hit the ground with a heavy thud as Beth leapt toward her, pulling her away from a nearby troll. The troll continued to advance and Beth slung her daggers at him, taking his legs out from under him before pulling the blades clear through his chest.
Sandy was still atop her battle cat. She looked around the field of battle, trying to figure out how she could contribute. Suzuki saw her from the corner of his eye and absentmindedly thought about how difficult it must be to have to figure out how to use a new set of powers in the middle of battle. He couldn’t give it too much thought, though, because two trolls were squaring up against him.
One of the trolls launched himself forward, his rusty axe in the air. Suzuki stepped to the side and punched him before turning to the next, which was already rushing him. Suzuki caught the blade of the troll’s axe but was off-balance. He stumbled back as the other troll regrouped from his prior attack, bringing down his axe on Suzuki, who barely managed to raise his own, losing more of his footing still until he stumbled back and fell. The two trolls came for him, but Suzuki rolled to his side, swiping one of the troll’s legs out from under it. As Suzuki brought his axe up through the troll’s crotch, a bolt of hot plasma came screeching through the other troll.
Suzuki looked up and saw Chip, still atop her battle cat, moving through the chaos of the battlefield, firing when she saw an opening, clearing up the stragglers who weren’t engaged in heavy combat.
Suzuki quickly scanned the area, looking for his next kill. A greenish mist was settling over the battlefield. Suzuki looked around, trying to find its source.
Sandy had finally dismounted her battle cat. Her skin was paler than usual, and her hair darker. The green mist was emanating from her. The trolls near her, fighting Stew, started to slow. It was as if something had gotten into their joints, seizing them up. The trolls didn’t seem to notice the change. Stew did, though, and he grabbed one of the trolls closest to him and hoisted the creature up, a feat that left the trolls near him stunned and frightened that a human could move such a massive creature with such ease. Stew slammed the troll into one of the others as Sandy walked past them all, touching one of the dead trolls, singing softly.
The dead troll’s body exploded in a hailstorm of bones, impaling three nearby trolls as the green mist continued to pour out of Sandy’s skin. She laughed as she levitated off the ground, the tips of her toes dragging as she launched herself at a troll. She grabbed his head and dug her nails into his skin as it began to rot. Then she plunged her thumbs into his head and ripped out his skull. She tossed the skull at another troll, the green mist compounded in the skull like some kind of grenade. There was an explosion of green mist and intestine and bone.
The leader of the trolls had singled Beth out, and they were circling each other. Beth swung her daggers and pulled them back into her hands. “Why’d you attack the redcaps?” Beth shouted.
The troll laughed and beat his chest. “Why do you care?” he countered before racing forward. The troll leapt at her, bringing his club down. Beth stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding being smashed. She leapt onto the troll and slammed her daggers into his chest. The leader was unaffected, and he grabbed Beth and tossed her away before hitting her in the chest with his axe.
Beth went flying and then skidded across the ground. She rolled once and was back on her feet, pulling her bow out and firing as she ran at the troll. Each arrow connected with the troll’s chest, but he did not seem to notice. Finally, Beth fired again, and one of her arrows hit the troll in the eye.
The troll screeched in pain and tried to pull the arrow out. That was all the time Beth needed to slide under the troll, carving through his crotch with her daggers. Then she sliced his ankles. As he fell, she circled him and slashed his throat.
The troll fell dead at her feet.
Beth spat on him as the rest of the Mundanes finished off the others. Suzuki shot her a glance from across the battlefield and saw Beth pulling out her long sword and decapitating the troll she’d killed. When she was done, she went to another troll and removed his head as well. Suzuki came up to her, worried. He hoped she wasn’t caught up in a battle frenzy. “Hey, Beth, are you okay?” Suzuki asked.
Beth looked over her shoulder, smiling. It was an odd combination, her face stained with blood and smiling so cheerfully. “Oh, yeah, so much better now,” she replied.
“Why are you cutting their heads off?”
“Oh, this? It’s a sign of disrespect. It shows any other trolls who come through that these trolls were killed by true warriors, and the rest of them should be more than a little afraid of what would happen to them. Serves these assholes right, too, fucking killing redcaps like that.”
Diana joined Suzuki and Beth as she walked around, lopping off heads. “True,” Diana agreed. “It was a senseless thing to do. Redcaps are some of the most peaceful creatures in Middang3ard.”
Suzuki gave Diana a bewildered look. “I didn’t know there was such a thing as a peaceful goblin,” he admitted.
“Actually, the goblins in Middang3ard are generally very peaceful. That was the first tip-off that something might be wrong with the races following the Dark One. Everyone was quite surprised when goblins started forming raiding parties and attacking elves and dwarves. True, they war with themselves often enough, but it’s honestly not much different than humans.”
Sandy and Stew approached from across the field. Stew was holding a troll arm in his hand. He hadn’t exited his berserker mode, and he was chewing on it.
Suzuki noticed Sandy’s robes didn’t change during battle. She also hadn’t summoned her magical mask. He wondered if this was another ramification of her magic having changed. Maybe she didn’t even need to use manna anymore.
Beth pointed at Stew and shook her head. “Are you fucking serious, Stew? That’s disgusting,” she shouted.
Stew looked from Beth to the troll arm and shrugged. “I’m hungry, dude, and everything tastes so good when I’m like this,” he explained. “And this coming from you? Disrespecting the dead like that. Poor taste, dude. Poor taste.”
Suzuki ignored Beth’s and Stew’s bickering. He had forgotten how much they argued when they played VR. It only made sense it would keep up outside of the game. Suzuki was more concerned with Sandy at the moment. “Hey, Sandy, how was all that?” he asked.
Sandy knelt beside one of the dead trolls. “Interesting,” Sandy said. “I’m not nearly as powerful as I used to be. It’s…a little unnerving. I was kind of expecting to come out of the place between the realms with more power. More knowledge, I guess. But I got nothing. I got worse than nothing. I got my powers drained.”
“You still seem like you’re a force to be reckoned with, though. That miasma-of-death shit you pulled was pretty fucking amazing.”
Sandy sighed and rested her hand on the decapitated head of the troll at her feet. “It’s not the same. I was a fucking powerhouse. Now…I dunno.”
Sandy picked up the troll’s head and looked into his eyes. “Or maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way,” she murmured. Then she closed her eyes. Across the battlefield, all of the trolls opened their eyes. Sandy sang softly, and the trolls shut their eyes again. Then she placed the head back on the ground. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this the wrong way.”
Chip pointed to the sun. “Fireside chat time should be about done,” she shouted to the Mundanes. “We got precious hours of sun, so we’d best be hoofing it.”
The Mundanes took off toward the east again. They doubled back for a moment to catch up to the redcaps to let them know the threat was taken care of. They did not stay for congratulations or thanks, although the redcaps did warn the Mundanes that the open space between jungles was especially dangerous at night. There were vicious creatures that moved through the darkness. The
Mundanes thanked the redcaps for their advice, and then they were on their way.
In the evening, the Mundanes made their camp in the fields. They had left the jungles far behind. Now they sat beneath the stars, watching the fire crackling as Stew and Diana busied themselves with cooking. The battle cats had gone off someplace, hunting perhaps. Stew had floated the idea they could use the cats to get fresh meat, but the Mundanes soon found the cats only listened in regard to riding. Once they dismounted from the giant felines, the true nature of the battle cats could be seen. They were, in fact, nothing more than large cats. Needless to say, the Mundanes hardly noticed when the cats slunk off into the darkness.
Suzuki was calmer than he had been in a while. He stared up at the stars and tried to think through his feelings since the journey to the island had started. All and all, he didn’t have much. Too much had happened but, more importantly, he had gotten used to just how frantic the life of a MERC was. Something always wanted to kill them. There was a constant stream of new information. People disappeared and returned. Sometimes your friends died. It was easy to see why the rest of the MERCs were the battle-hardened folks they were.
Across the flames, Suzuki caught Sandy’s eye. She had been staring into the fire as if there was some truth she could divine from its dance. When the flames cast more light on her, Suzuki could see she had been crying. Stew hadn’t noticed since he was too busy cooking. Otherwise, he would have been by her side. Beth and Chip were fiddling with Beth’s lightsaber daggers. Suzuki walked around the fire and sat next to Sandy. “You okay?” he asked.
Sandy nodded as she wiped away her tears. “Yeah, I’m cool. What’s up?” Sandy asked.
“That wasn’t really a question. I mean, not one you can answer without actually telling me something.”
Sandy sighed as she arrived at the conclusion that she wasn’t going to be able to get out of this. “All right, fine. I feel like shit,” she admitted. “I was trying to cast a simple fire spell, you know, something to make the flames change color. A fucking parlor trick. I couldn’t even do that. It’s still…I don’t know, it’s frustrating more than anything else. I knew what I was doing. I know how to be a mage. I knew how to get more powerful. And I knew my place in the party. Now? All I know is that I kinda have a thing with dead shit.”