Sol Lands

by Riker Kane

I looked into her eyes and saw the steam wetting her cheeks. Any joke I thought about cracking had left me quickly.

  “No… Nothing’s wrong.”

  “Good.” She put her lips back to mine and grabbed my shaft. “Because I want you inside of me.”

  Lyra only needed a few hard strokes to make sure I was hard and ready for her. Without hesitating, she guided me into her folds then sat down on me.

  “Oh…” Her head rocked back as she let out a gasp. Her throat bobbed up and down as she moaned in rhythm with the way she rode me. Her silver hair, wet from the water, flailed back and forth. Her breasts weren’t as large as Zafina’s, but Lyra had more than enough bounce to have me staring.

  I held onto her waist and guided myself into her. I pumped my hips with slow, deep strokes, making sure my length got as deep into her as I could. The water was warm but Lyra’s warmth tightening around my shaft made me shudder.

  She pressed her hands on my shoulders to brace herself, her nails digging into my skin as she got more into it. She leaned back more, letting her breasts heave as she cried out even louder.

  “Virgil… Oh, Virgil… It feels so good…”

  Her eyes closed, Lyra was in a pure state of bliss.

  I was enjoying it just as much as her. I hardly realized that my hips were bucking like a piston as I rammed up into her. I stood up from the pool completely, setting her on the edge so that I could dig into her. My hands stayed on her legs to keep them spread.

  “Yeah, just like that…” She leaned closer to me and whispered in my ear. “I’m close… I want to feel you.”

  Lyra’s words of encouragement were more than I needed. I rammed into her harder and harder, driving my length into her folds with forceful thrusts. Our wet bodies rubbed against each other, filling the room with the unmistakable sounds of what we were doing.

  I clenched my jaw as the pleasure ramped up inside of me. Everything was gathering to the edge. I held on for as long as I could before wrapping my arms around her waist and losing control.

  “Lyra…”

  Her name was all I could get out before I came hard. The first throb made my knees buckle. The second and I filled her up with more of my seed.

  “Virgil…”

  She cried out in a whimper as she started to convulse. Her orgasm made her wrap around me even tighter. Thick contractions squeezed me, making my own end even that much more satisfying.

  I held on for as long as I could before lowering myself down. I leaned down and kissed her chest while she cradled me in her arms. We used everything we had left before collapsing into the pool next to one another.

  Lyra leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. I thought about asking her if she was all right. But nothing more needed to be said. There was only a little time left before the biggest battle of our lives. The time for talking was over.

  39: Gallantry

  I headed to Zion the next morning to make the final preparations.

  Ultima

  Level 92 Battle God

  Hit Points 400

  Endurance 300 (+100)

  Earth (Strength) 26

  Fire (Speed) 27

  Water (Durability) 26

  Life/Death (Control) 48

  ***

  Mana Bonds

  Zafina - Level 6: 25% Ability Damage Bonus

  Rhiannon - Level 6: 25% Summon Speed Bonus

  Araceli - Level 3: 10% Rune Endurance Drain Decrease

  Sawyer - Level 3: 10% Physical Attack Damage Bonus

  Yuma - Level 3: 10% Damage Resistance Bonus

  Lyra - Level 4: 20% Ability Channel Speed Bonus

  Cellica - Level 1: 10% Damage Bonus for nearby allies

  Vacindra - Level 1: 10% Dark Element Damage Bonus

  The endurance increase from Araceli’s potion along with getting closer to Lyra would give me just a little bit more for the battle ahead. I was happy to get everything I could get. But I knew that was only just the beginning.

  I crossed my arms and sighed a deep breath. “Okay, Cybil. I’m ready.”

  She stayed silent while a podium slowly rose from the ground. The black orb I’d placed on it last time had disappeared. In its place, there was a sphere of purple and black energy, glowing like a small ball of smoke. It faded in and out enough that I could see through it.

  “I have extracted all of the energy from the orb while maintaining its elemental properties. You can now absorb this power into the Life Rune as your own, Ultima.”

  “And have you figured out what those side effects are?”

  “As I mentioned before, any side effects you may experience would not be adverse. This will only be to your benefit.”

  I took a step closer to the ball of energy, giving myself one last moment to back out. Not that I would though.

  “The only way…” I slowly reached my hand out. There was nothing solid for me to grab but the energy sensed I was near and began flowing into my hand. A cold rush flowed into my palm, traveling up my arm, then quickly spreading through the rest of my body. The rush got so intense, I didn’t know if I would’ve been able to handle it if the Life Rune hadn’t been activated.

  “Whoa…” I looked down and watched the black aura surrounding my body. The Life Rune pulsed with a bright purple light and the lines running along my armor did the same. “Oh, man… What is happening…”

  My jaw dropped as the rush moved toward my chest—pain like an icepick dug into me—stinging to the point I groaned in pain. I gritted my teeth, closing my eyes and trying to endure it.

  “Oh… Cybil…” I grunted as I fell to a knee. “I… Dammit…”

  The rush was so intense, I thought my body was going to split apart. I squeezed my hands tight, tensing every muscle I had.

  I couldn’t stop now. I couldn’t give up. No turning back.

  “No turning back…” I repeated the words I heard in my thoughts. “No turning back… No turning… back!”

  I let out a scream before collapsing onto all fours. I was still breathing. I was still conscious. I was still in Zion.

  Completely exhausted, I opened my eyes to see the faint dark glow resonating around the yellow light of the Life Rune in my chest. I pushed myself up to my feet and stared at the screen.

  “What…” I didn’t finish, blinking my eyes to make sure I was reading it right.

  Elemental Levels

  Light - Level 4

  Dark - Level 9 (+6)

  Water - Level 2

  Fire - Level 3

  Stone - Level 3

  “Your affinity to the dark element has increased by six levels.” Cybil confirmed it but I still didn’t believe it. “This will affect not only on your abilities but your familiar as well.”

  “No kidding. Six levels… That’ll be enough, won’t it?”

  “I do not anticipate the fortress barrier being able to withstand such a level. Use your new elemental strength to neutralize the aura blocking your path.”

  “Talk about a shortcut… I should’ve said hello to the Reaper right from the start.”

  “Do not get ahead of yourself. Though this boost is significant, you will not succeed without familiarity with all elements. In addition, there is no substitute for experience in battle. The power resonating from the fortress is still considerable. Your power alone will not win this fight. Prove yourself worthy of carrying the mantle of Ultima and honor the oath you have made by defeating the evil that threatens Iorus.”

  It all came down to this. After everything I’d been through, it would have to be enough. I’d never been more confident though. Whatever was waiting for me, I was ready.

  “I’ll win this fight, Cybil.”

  “Good luck, Ultima.”

  ~ ~ ~

  The moon was out, bright and full in a sky free from any clouds. The fires of Haven had finally been extinguished but smoke rising from the ashes was strong enough it overpowered the smell of the grass.

  I stood on the hillside and looked out on the dest
ruction. I couldn’t let the sight distract me. If anything, I needed to use it to focus on what was really important.

  My head turned toward the fortress in the valley on the other side. A steel cube ominously placed in a foreign setting. The black aura surrounding it flowed up toward the sky without a single change despite taking a blast from the Holy Light Cannon.

  It was more than two hundred yards away. A distance I could cover quickly if I flew as fast as I could. But I didn’t need to just get there. I had to use the new power I had to finish this.

  “Are you okay?” Lyra stood next to me. She raised her head as confidently as someone could, her eyes narrowed in steely determination.

  “Better than okay,” I replied.

  “You are not alone.” Rhiannon was on my other side, crouching down as if ready to move into a charge. “We will take down the barrier and destroy whatever evil resides within.”

  “I have no doubt we will accomplish this,” Zafina added as she stood a few paces away. “We will accomplish this,” she said again with more emphasis.

  I gave them all one last look. I knew this moment was coming but now that it was here, I almost couldn’t believe it. But I’d been preparing for this too long to walk away now.

  “Let’s get this done,” I said. “No more talking.”

  I activated the Life Rune and my armor covered me from my toes to my neck. I started my march down the hillside with the rest of my party in tow. The four of us made it into the valley without much trouble. But we hadn’t taken a single step when the ground started to shake.

  Dark clouds of black and purple energy billowed in the clear night sky, gathering into smoky swirls until flashing with a bright light. Dozens of Shadows fell to the grass. They were beasts like wolves or tigers or whatever four-legged animal you wouldn’t want to run into. They had no definable features, their bodies a black outline of the energy they’d fallen from. Only their eyes glowed red, narrowing with a feral, focused stare. I wasn’t interested in getting pounced or clawed at or having my jugular cut open by the sharp points of energy at the end of their wide paws. Even just the weight of the beasts—which was comparable to any big cat you’d find at the zoo—would have been enough to knock the wind out of me if they landed on me.

  I wasn’t going to give them a chance for any of that.

  Neither was Lyra, who made the first move and launched flaming arrow after flaming arrow into the sky. The beasts charged forward with a unified roar that broke the peace of the grassy valley like thunder.

  Zafina charged her fireballs and joined Lyra’s attacks. The flames rained down on the beasts, blanketing them with an inferno that consumed them whole. They burst into Mana but more of them continued to rain down from the sky, filling the valley with dozens and dozens of creatures all gunning for us.

  “Let’s try this out.” I raised my hand and fired a Dark Beam. I didn’t know what to expect but the blast coming from my palm was as big as my whole body. If it weren’t so dark, I would’ve had to turn my head away. “Whoa!” The dark blast shot forward, sweeping through the grass in front of me like a wave. I expected the Shadows to get bowled over but they were consumed entirely, every fiber of their being turning into nothing and leaving Mana behind.

  I lowered my hand down and let out a gasp like I’d just run a mile in a minute.

  Rhiannon put a hand on my shoulder. “You must conserve your endurance. You will need every ounce of it to take down the barrier by yourself.”

  Lyra let loose with a stone arrow that ripped through three Shadows in a line. “If we want to get to that barrier, I say we start moving.”

  I nodded and immediately began pressing forward. Lyra and Zafina stayed focused, firing their abilities to keep the Shadows from circling. The beasts were coming down like a faucet from the sky but my protectors made sure they didn’t get anybody near.

  “You’re missing out on all the fun.” I gave Rhiannon a smirk.

  She didn’t smile back, instead raising her right hand and summoning a fiery red Mana dagger. “Then I believe it is only right I find some way to amuse myself.” Rhiannon dashed forward like a streak, moving into the Shadows as they converged on her. There were more than twenty of them surrounding her in an instant like roaches gunning for a piece of food that fell on the floor. But Rhiannon wasn’t something that would be consumed so easily. If she were anybody else, I would’ve been worried.

  Not her.

  Rhiannon leapt into the air and twirled around with the skill of an Omega Strider. She cut through the Shadows with precision carving. When one Shadow got stabbed in the head, another was sliced down its body less than a second after. When another would try to lunge, it would get stabbed right on its chin with her blade poking out of its head before it turned into Mana. And still more feral beasts tried to slash at her, only to be met with a vicious slash that would’ve separated their heads from the rest of them if they were flesh and bone.

  I maintained my focus, conserving my energy as much as I could with deep breaths as we all walked through the valley. The fortress drew nearer but all it seemed to do was draw more of a response from the beasts. More thunder broke the silence and then something else fell. Black Golems more than ten-feet high all landed on the grass with a thud. They could handle one of them. They could handle two. Even three. But more than ten of them meant I would have to step in to help Zafina and Lyra.

  “Try this on for size.” Lyra aimed a stone arrow at one of the Golems. The arrow slammed into its square head, creating a shower of dust and rocks as it exploded. But even without its head, the Golem’s blocky body continued stomping forward, threatening to crush us underneath its heel.

  “Can’t wait any longer.” I fired a Frozen Jet at the Golem and concentrated the icy beam enough to freeze the Golem in place.

  “Ahhhh!” Rhiannon screamed through the sky as she moved like a streak. Her dagger pierced the Golem’s chest and shattered it into shards of ice and rock before it faded into Mana.

  One Golem down, countless more to go.

  Zafina sent a fireball on our path toward the fortress and burned through more of the beast Shadows but the Golems didn’t budge.

  “Those things won’t move so easy,” I said as I looked up to see more Golems lowering down. “We don’t need to beat them. We just need to clear a path but I don’t think we can even do that… What do we…”

  The ground started to rumble beneath my feet. The shaking got so bad, I had to dig my heels in to make sure I didn’t fall over.

  “What is that?” I said as I looked around in confusion. “More Shadows?”

  “No…” Zafina looked to me with a smile and pointed behind us.

  I looked up toward the hillside we’d come down from and saw dozens and dozens of figures standing there. I couldn’t make them out clearly but I knew they weren’t Shadows. They all screamed in unison, running down into the valley like an avalanche.

  The wave kept moving toward us, drawing the attention of the beasts. Even the Golems moved to advance on them. I didn’t know who they were but they were taking down enough of the Shadows to help clear our path.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted.

  I moved with my party even faster as more Shadows continued raining from the sky. Golems pounded the grass and sent dirt and grass flying up. I kept my head down, ignoring the splatter of mud against my cheeks. Suddenly, one of the Golems stomped down right in front of me, rocking the ground hard enough to lift me from my feet.

  I landed on my stomach with a thud then felt one of the beasts immediately snatch my wrist in its jaw.

  “Get off!” I raised my hand and blasted it away with a Radiant Beam but another was on me, pouncing on my side to try and keep me down. “I said get off!” I blasted the next one away and rushed back to my feet, only to find I was surrounded by ten more Shadows.

  “All right… You want to do this.” I activated my gauntlet and summoned a fiery sword in my right hand as long as a Cavalier saber. “Let’s
do this.”

  I didn’t have any experience as an Omega. But if they could train ordinary teenagers to fight Shadows with a sword, there’s no reason I couldn’t do the same.

  As the Shadows converged, I spun around, slashing my blade in every direction. The orange and red flames formed a circle around me, scorching the beasts and making them think twice before attacking. They wouldn’t retreat, of course, but it gave me enough time to recover into my stance.

  “Come on!”

  As if they understood, they all charged again. I thrust at the first Shadow that neared, digging my sword into its chest and turning it into Mana. I quickly spun around—instinct or fortune guiding me—and I managed to cleave another Shadow. But the other Shadows were too fast. They slashed at my face. I barely moved away to avoid getting clawed completely, but they hit me enough to draw blood.

  I activated a Rock Burst from my left palm and knocked them back to give me another chance to catch my breath.

  More Shadows surrounded me. “More of you. Okay. I can beat all of you—”

  “Ahhhhh!” A bear-like scream filled the air before a sudden blast of ice crashed into the Shadows, knocking them on their backs and sending them tumbling like they’d been hit by a fire hose. I looked to where the beam came from and saw a towering man stomping toward me. But it took me less than a second to realize it wasn’t a man.

  “Arctis?”

  He was bigger than any person I’d ever met. The leader of the goblins stood out, his muscular body covered in leathery white scales. His dark hair braided into a ponytail behind his head, he walked up to me and smirked with the bone tusks protruding from his bottom lip.

  “Did you not think I would let you fight the threat that challenges Iorus by yourself?” he spoke with his gruff voice.

  I looked around and saw among the people engaging with the Shadows were all of the goblins he led. They were small in stature but they made up for it in violence as they covered the Golems enough completely to make them topple.

  “It’s good to see you, friend,” I said with a nod.