Champion's Prophecy: A LitRPG Adventure
Page 3
“Well, it's delicious as usual. I think I like it even more than her ales,” Terran said, taking a long draught. “Have you seen Newt or the others?”
“They’re at a table in the back corner,” Elsie answered, pointing to a large round table on the far side of the room away from the stage.
Terran followed Elsie’s finger and saw Zara, Newt, Flynn, and Darkness Sighs bent over the table, trying to hear something that Vievel was saying to them. Terran was surprised to see the diminutive trader, but he hoped he had good news about more steel trade.
It took several minutes for Terran to make it to the far side of the room. Everyone he passed wanted to toast him and had something to say. He could barely make out anything that was said, so he just smiled, nodded, and clinked mugs together until he finally made it to the table.
“Terran,” Newt said excitedly.
The normally stoic gravomancer had rosy cheeks and a grin plastered to his face. Terran noticed the empty mug next to him and knew the reason for his unusual demeanor. Newt seldom drank with the others, but apparently even he liked Ara’s cider.
Zara leaned on her elbow, a grin plastered to her wide lips. “We were just listening to Newt and Vievel argue about the efficiency of donkeys versus mules when it comes to hauling goods. Newt believes mules are the superior choice, while Vievel thinks they're half-assed.”
Terran slapped his friend on the shoulder and took the seat they had been saving for him between Zara and Newt. Flynn and Darkness Sighs were huddled together on the other side of Newt, and Vievel was on Zara’s right. Newt waved at the waitress when he caught her eye and made a circular motion with his finger, indicating another round for the table.
“This stuff tastes so good,” Newt said, draining the last of his mug.
“Sure, until the next day,” Flynn added.
“I picked up our next round of quests if anyone is interested,” Terran said, sharing his quests with the group.
Blank stares met him as the others read the information Terran had just shared. Darkness Sighs looked around the room, soaking in the other customers with a faraway look in her eye.
“Is this what life was like for my mother? A series of quests and completing tasks for other people? I often wonder what it would have been like to be raised as an Offworlder instead of a Zythri,” she said pensively.
“I know just where to start looking for the place of power,” Newt said. “I’ve seen a book in the library, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I’ll start first thing tomorrow.”
“If you aren’t too hungover,” Flynn said, watching Newt take a swig from the mug the waitress had just brought to the table.
“I’ll be fine. Jondar’s made an elixir to combat the symptoms of overindulging in libations. How else would he function?” Newt said.
“So Newt is going to spend the day researching. Who wants to go with me to Wunderlust Keep so we can deal with the quarry issue?” Terran asked.
“I would, but I have a training session scheduled with Lhoris. He barely has time for solo sessions these days, so I’d hate to reschedule. Plus, with his help, I’m really making some progress controlling the rage and focusing my whirlwind ability,” Zara said, sitting up a little straighter.
“I am interested in meeting the centaurs. They were fierce allies with the Zythri in the past, but I have never seen one myself,” Darkness Sighs said.
“I assume that means I can count on you too, Flynn.” Terran grinned.
Flynn’s cheeks flushed bright red. “Well, there’s nothing else on my schedule. So why not.”
Zara rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. I’m sure that’s the only reason you’d want to go.”
“It’s settled then. We’ll leave first thing in the morning. We could be at the keep by midday.”
Chapter Two
Aeresteel greeted Terran’s party on the steps of Wunderlust Keep. If he hadn’t known better, Terran would have thought he was in a completely new place. The wall surrounding the keep had been fully repaired and the large double doors swung easily on their hinges. Instead of being choked by weeds, the inner courtyard had exquisite vegetable gardens growing. Terran smiled when he thought of his botany teacher explaining how humans used horse manure to fertilize soil. No wonder the gardens were growing so well.
“It’s great to see you too, Terran,” Aeresteel said, misinterpreting his smile.
“Hello, Lady Aeresteel. You remember Flynn? And this is Darkness Sighs,” he said, indicating the Shade standing next to Flynn. “You have clearly been hard at work. Last time I was here things were starting to turn around, but this is amazing. Are those carrots?”
“Yes, a clan favorite. Pleased to meet you, Darkness Sighs,” Aeresteel said, bowing her head.
Terran had not been to the keep since using the portal to transfer his friends there while sending Selune and her cronies away from Belavar. The centaurs were certainly an industrious group. There were several tending the gardens, he could hear the ringing of steel from the smithy, and the smells of cooking wafted through the open keep doors.
“We’d have more done if we could get into the quarry. I hope you’re here to help us with that.”
“As a matter of fact, we are. Tell me what’s going on.”
Aeresteel beckoned them inside. “Let’s talk over some lunch. I’m sure you must be hungry from your travels.”
“Now you’re talking,” Flynn said, rushing towards the mouthwatering smells.
“I guess it’s true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Too bad I don’t cook,” Darkness Sighs said solemnly.
Plates of roasted carrots and potatoes, bowls of lettuce, and some kind of apple pie adorned the long table in the dining room. Flynn had already taken his seat and was heaping spoonfuls onto his plate before Terran sat down. A centaur with chestnut coloring brought out a tray filled with steaming mugs of tea and set it down on the table in front of Aeresteel.
“This is delicious,” Flynn said around a mouthful of food. “I’m so tired of mushrooms even if they taste like whatever I want. It’s nice to have real food. My regards to the chef.”
The chestnut centaur grinned. “I’ll be sure to tell them, sir.”
“So what’s going on at the quarry?” Terran asked as he piled the roasted veggies on his plate.
“At first everything was fine,” Aeresteel started. “We were able to excavate the rock with no problem, but as we dug deeper shadows started to appear. Just one or two at first and they didn’t do anything or cause any harm, but after a week or so they started getting aggressive. When my centaurs tried to defend themselves the shadows would split and multiply. They were rapidly overwhelmed. It seemed like with each split they became more and more aggressive.
“I lost an entire patrol in one day. After that, I recalled the workers and left the quarry alone. But we need that rock if repairs are to continue. There’s still a large hole in the back of the keep that we’ve boarded up, but that’s only a temporary solution.
“We don’t know where the shadows came from, or how to get rid of them since they multiply when you hit them with weapons. I don’t even know if we could somehow round them up and trap them. I’m hoping you have some ideas and can get rid of them so we can get back to work.”
Terran listened and ate while Aeresteel told him the story. He had just finished the last bite of his large piece of pie when she sat back in her chair and awaited his response.
“Shadows. How would you even cut a shadow?” Flynn mused, waving his hand through the beam of sunshine filtering through the front doors, creating shadow puppets.
“These are not shadows like that. They are beings, not blockages of light. I’m fairly certain they come from the Shadowbane. Nothing else really makes sense.”
The mention of Shadowbane brought memories of Chanterelle to Terran’s mind. He thought about how she’d seemed to turn to shadow and flit across a battlefield after he gave her the dagger. Was it possible that Chanterell
e had something to do with the infestation at the quarry?
“Do the shadows have a shape or look like anything?” Terran asked.
“It’s hard to tell, they shift so quickly, but not really. They’re more like smoke. They seem to ooze out of the rock.”
“Have you ever seen anything like this, Darkness?” Terran asked, turning towards the Shade.
Darkness slowly shook her head. “I am familiar with Shadowbane. She is a darker goddess of the realm. Many falsely believe we Zythri are related—that is why they call us Shades. But no, I have not seen anything like that,” she said.
Terran’s mind went back to memories of Chanterelle. He wondered where she was right now. Did she miss him? Did she even think about him anymore? He couldn’t bear the thought that she no longer remembered him, so he was grateful when Aeresteel interrupted his thoughts.
“I can accompany you into the quarry, though I can’t spare any more to help. Not to mention I doubt I would get anyone to volunteer after the last incident,” she said, drumming her fingers on the table.
“How is your grandfather these days?” Terran asked, noticing the signet ring on her finger.
“He’s a bit stronger, but is still unable to exist for long outside of the ring. As long as the Mother Tree keeps strengthening, he should too though.”
Terran looked down at his hands, unable to meet Aeresteel’s gaze. He hadn’t told anyone except Petram about his vision and discussion with Andelain. The others knew there were quests to be done, but they didn’t know the Mother Tree would cease to exist if they failed. He decided it would be better if he didn’t add that stress to their missions.
“As soon as Flynn has finished filling his bottomless pit of a stomach, we can head to the quarry,” Terran said, changing the subject.
The quarry was located just to the east of the keep. It only took the group a few minutes to walk along the well-worn tree-lined path to get there. Terran’s breath caught in his throat as the trees opened up and the quarry came into view.
A giant hole in the ground revealed terraced rock steps leading down to the bottom of the quarry. Piles of gray rubble stood sentinel all along the bottom of the excavated area. If there was an order to the piles, Terran couldn’t tell. Pickaxes and shovels were strewn throughout the site, and carts half filled with rock rested near the piles of rubble as if the workers had left in a hurry.
As they neared the edge of the quarry Terran realized the steps to the bottom were made for centaurs. They were a bit too far apart and tall for the humans to easily traverse. Luna bounded down the steps like a deer leaping through the forest, but Terran and Flynn took them one at a time like small puppies using stairs for the first time. Although slower than Luna, Darkness Sighs seemed to have little trouble as she floated down the steep steps towards the bottom, her bone construct following close behind.
As Terran and Flynn struggled down the final steps, everyone else was already at the bottom, watching them. “I know I make it look so graceful. I expected more applause after that performance,” Flynn said with a flourishing bow.
Aeresteel looked away with a smirk as Darkness Sighs applauded sarcastically. “Let’s hope going up is easier,” she said, shaking her head.
From the top of the quarry it was difficult to understand the scale of the area. The piles of rubble were bigger than Terran, and many of the rocks were bigger than a centaur. The thought of trying to get something that big to the top of the steps was overwhelming for someone who’d just struggled to get down the steep terrace.
Terran was about to ask how they managed to move rocks that size when he noticed a tow path rising up the northern wall. Thick ropes were attached to a massive winch at the top of the slope. The winch had four spokes with a harness attached to each of them. At the bottom of the slope there was a stack of large logs that could be placed under the rock to help it roll up the hill.
“Going up is going to be much easier because I’m going to take that ramp,” Flynn huffed when he noticed where Terran was looking. “Any reason we couldn’t have come down that way?”
“We only use that for hauling the rock out, so I didn’t even think of it. Plus I guess I didn’t realize what a struggle those steps were going to be for you two,” Aeresteel said with a shrug.
Luna grinned. “I’m glad we didn’t get to miss the show of agility.”
As she spoke an eerie feeling crawled over Terran’s skin and he shivered. Although the quarry was open to the cloudless sky, he felt trapped among the rocks like they were fish in a giant aquarium being watched by hundreds of schoolchildren on a field trip. A thin wisp of what looked like dark smoke slithered out from between some rocks in a pile of rubble next to Aeresteel’s back hooves. The blackness expanded as Luna crouched down ready to pounce, ears flat to her head.
The walls of the quarry were quickly becoming covered in darkness like a solar eclipse working its way across the sky as the smoky shadows oozed out all around, pressing in on them. Aeresteel drew her sword and swung as a shadow lurched towards the group huddled closely together in the middle of the quarry. Terran heard a hissing like air escaping a balloon as the shadow Aeresteel had attacked split in two, both halves retreating to a safe distance.
Terran felt like they had walked into the middle of a snake nest as the shadows oozed all around them. The hissing sound they made as they split on Aeresteel’s sword helped complete the image. As more and more appeared, they became more aggressive, moving in packs towards the group, and doubling as they tried to defend themselves. Although they didn’t do much damage each time they attacked, there were just too many and they were doubling quickly.
Grinder was using his fists to pound them into the ground as Luna sliced through the air with her claws. Darkness Sighs stood in the middle of the group watching the battle unfold. Flynn had his daggers out, but hesitated to use them, seeing that he would only be adding to the chaos.
Shadows pressed in all around them as Terran took a deep breath and unleashed an Auditory Assault on the group. Any hopes that the sonic attack would not have the same splitting effect were dashed when a loud whoosh sounded and hundreds of shadows in the area of effect split in two.
“This isn’t working!” Flynn yelled. “We aren’t going to make it out of here. There’s just too many and everything we do is doubling them.”
“Focus your fire,” Darkness directed. “They only split once, but you all keep hitting new ones, making things harder. Try killing one before hitting any others.” She wriggled her fingers and mumbled something under her breath as one of the shadows took on an eerie green glow. “Hit the glowing one.”
As the glowing shadow retreated towards the middle of the pack Flynn pulled out his bow and fired at it, and Terran hit it with a Vocal Slam. The others, having no range attack, watched as the glowing shadow evaporated after being hit from afar several times.
Aeresteel wasted no time as she swung her sword at the nearest shadow. Two crushing blows from the Grinder and a claw from Luna killed it. It was torturously slow, but they were thinning the ranks instead of multiplying them at least. Flynn pulled out his daggers so as not to expend more arrows and joined the hand-to-hand combat. Terran used his Vocal Slam to hit any shadows that tried to escape their melee death.
Lady Aeresteel took the brunt of the damage, and her hit points slowly dwindled with each attacking shadow. She stepped back from the fray, letting Grinder take over as the main tank while she caught her breath and recovered some hit points. Darkness Sighs laid a hand on her shoulder and mumbled a spell giving the centaur faster health regeneration.
“It doesn’t work well in combat, but that should help you heal faster. Keep taking turns with Grinder and we should be fine,” she explained.
The group found a rhythm to their destruction, trading tanks as needed and focusing their damage on a single shadow until it was dead. A few times Terran had to rest to allow his mana to recover, but once they learned to focus fire things went smoothly.
Terran almost choked on the swig of water he had just taken when the pile of rocks next to him exploded and what could only be described as a giant shadow hawk burst forth into the air. The hawk raked its scythe-like talons along Terran as it flew past, taking fifteen percent of his health. Its cry echoed off the quarry walls as it circled higher into the air.
Like it had spotted a meal in the grass, the hawk tucked its head and dove at Luna. Silent wings outstretched and talons ready to grip, it clawed at the lynx. Luna growled, turning her head to bite at the leg of the giant hawk that was gouging her. She managed to fling the bird off of her, but as it landed hard on the ground it suddenly morphed into a giant ogre roaring menacingly at Aeresteel, who had stepped in front of Luna to protect her.
“What the heck?!” Flynn yelled as the ogre swung a club the size of a small tree above its head.
Terran analyzed the ogre.
Shadow Morph (Ogre form) - Level 20
Why settle on one form when you can take several?
Aeresteel swung her sword at the beast’s leg, creating a small gash that oozed green blood, but the ogre’s club smashed into her left flank, sending her careening out of the way. The massive bone construct only came up to the ogre’s waist, but Grinder pounded the cut Aeresteel had made in its leg with his fists.
The ogre roared in pain with each blow. Terran stood frozen in shock as the roar turned to a shriek and the creature morphed yet again. This time it shrunk into a beautiful ebony-skinned woman with rows of long braids in her hair and flowing bright orange robes. She spread her arms wide and cast a spell.
Terran felt like the ogre had just rammed into his chest as the spell hit him, knocking him and the rest of the group on their backs. Only Grinder was not affected by the spell as he swung his bone fists at the shadow morph, narrowly missing.