The Blade Guardian

by Darren Hultberg Jr

  Swords found their way around the awkwardly held polearms and shields, piercing flesh and draining hit points until the guards eventually fell. All four of the men were torn apart by the ravens‘ unrelenting assault.

  And then there was only Greygor...

  The Tidecaller leveled his trident as a single raven made a slow, cautious approach. This man appeared different from the others, his skin a pale red, his eyes giving off a soft, eerie glow. This man... this thing must’ve been the group’s leader, judging by the way the other raven assailants looked on with fear. Greygor steadied himself, doing the best he could to stop the tremors in his hands as the red-skinned man made his approach. There was no way Greygor was going to make it out alive, but by the kraken, he would take this damned demon-man with him! He had to, for the honor of his men!

  If only he knew he faced the veiled blade of Morose.

  Greygor shoved his trident forward as the red-skinned assassin charged in, stabbing once, twice, three times in rapid succession. The tri-tipped weapon cut through the air, but Morose was far too fast to fall to a mere basic attack.

  Ducking low, then leaning right, the assassin dodged the first two strikes from the trident before deflecting the third attack high with his blade. This left the Tidecaller open for an open-palmed strike to the chest, a blow that sent resounding waves of pain into the man’s core and left him struggling to hold on to his polearm.

  Morose continued his assault, kicking his foot out wide and sweeping Greygor’s legs out from under him. The Tidecaller scrambled to catch himself, falling to a knee as Morose’s blade came crashing in. Sparks showered the man as he managed to get his trident up to block, the weight of the blow sending a wave of pain pulsating through his arms. He tried to push back against the assassin’s attack, but Morose countered, weaving his blade through the trident’s tips before ripping it out of Greygor’s hands.

  Alone and unarmed, Greygor remained defiant as Morose resumed his attack, rising to his feet as the assassin’s bastard sword pierced his stomach. His assailant remained emotionless as he forced the blade further into his stomach, forcing him back until he was completely impaled into the nearby tree.

  Greygor closed his eyes, silently accepting his fate as his hit points drained alongside the insurmountable pain in his abdomen. He thought he was done for... he was sure of it. But the assassin had other plans.

  Before Greygor’s health reticle could fully drain, Morose poured some sort of strange solvent over his wound, sealing his flesh around the sword. The extraordinary pain remained, but his bleeding had temporarily halted... it was torture then, Greygor knew. Well, he would die before he gave up the secrets of the tides.

  Using one his black-nailed fingertips, Morose pried one of Greygor’s eyelids open, ensuring the Tidecaller was still lucid. He then proceeded to draw a dagger from his belt and press it into Greygor’s cheek.

  The Tidecaller shuddered, unsure if he could withstand another ounce of pain... but it didn’t come. No, instead the assassin spoke, his voice deep and guttural and full of contempt. He snarled, looking into Greygor’s tear-filled eye before growling a single question... “Where is the boy?!”

  “The… boy?” Greygor asked, blood beginning to crest over his lips.

  Morose gave his blade a twist, eliciting another howl of pain from Greygor. “Yes!” he growled. “Where is Zander Darkblade?!”

  25

  Protector

  I lay in the field of violet flowers, trapped in a state of bliss as their pungent aroma left me in a trance. It was mesmerizing… so much so that I didn’t notice the pair of winged creatures emerging from their underground lair. The creatures circled us in the amber skies above, long stingers poised on the end of their tails as they prepared to strike.

  “Zander… Zander!” Razyr shouted, his eyes wracked with fear. He was trying to grab my attention, trying desperately to warn me of the imminent danger… but I just couldn’t seem to clear my damn mind.

  The creatures above began to take aim, preparing to swoop down and devour our defenseless bodies. I could see the danger… I could nearly feel it in the air. I had to snap out of it, I had to get up. I had to…

  “BLERGH!” I nearly coughed out a lung as Kord used his empowered leap, jumping into the air before landing directly on my stomach. A few of my hit points quickly faded, but the pain brought me clarity, snapping my mind out of that strange plant-induced fog.

  And just in time, for I realized how much danger we were really in.

  My eyes darted to the skies where a pair of massive winged creatures made their descent. Their bodies were covered in gleaming scales of violet and yellow, their reptilian maws filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. The creatures very closely resembled dragons, though they only had two massive hind legs and no forelegs to speak of. Perhaps that didn’t matter, for on the creatures’ tails sat a long, pointy stinger dripping with some sort of noxious venom.

  Thornland Wyvern

  Lvl 45 Elite Beast

  The Great Thorn

  Thornland Wyvern

  Lvl 46 Elite Beast

  Dammit all, these things were planning to tear us apart while we napped in their field of death… hell, they likely still would if I didn’t get the others up! I shifted my gaze back to the others. Hilda lay amongst the wildflowers, gently rubbing the violet blooms against her cheek. My father had also dismounted from Horus and now knelt in the dirt, his face planted firmly into a particularly flowery portion of soil. And Tham… wait, where was Tham?

  “Wake them!” Thamriul yelled, his voice echoing across the field as he went running in the opposite direction.

  “What are you doing…” I began to reply before I finally realized what was going on. The creatures had averted their gazes toward Thamriul… he was distracting them. He was giving us a chance!

  Immediately I went to work, giving my father and Hilda a series of violent shakes as the creatures descended on Tham in the distance, kicking up clouds of dirt and violet flower petals.

  “Wha... what’s going on?” Hilda asked, wiping away the strange lavender pollen that had begun to form around her eyes.

  “Get up!” I yelled, forging nevermore from shadow and pointing the blade in the wyverns’ direction. The creatures hovered in the air above Tham, their stingers darting in furiously as the dark elf danced and dodged the venomous tips.

  I turned to my father, looking to get him on his feet but the man had already leapt into action, charging in Tham’s direction as his spirit aura began to take form around him. I followed suit, calling my familiars to my side as Hilda and I joined the charge.

  As we approached, one of the creatures broke off its attack before taking flight in our direction, its stinger curled beneath its gliding body like an inverted scorpion’s tail. My father met the wyvern’s attack head on, calling on his bear aura as the creature lurched at him with a powerful stab. I could see the shock in his expression as the creature’s stinger pierced his translucent spiritform, knocking the man back several paces as the wyvern continued to soar by with a screech.

  “Come here!” Hilda yelled at the beast, slamming her flaming blade against her aegis shield as she activated shieldmaster’s challenge. If any of us were suited to take the brunt of this creature’s attacks, it was her.

  The wyvern let out another screech before making a quick turn and swooping back in Hilda’s direction. The woman steeled herself, falling into stalwart stance as the creature descended. She dug her heels into the ground, but it did little to help as the massive wyvern slammed into her shield, sending her body careening through the sea of violet wildflowers as her health reticle decreased by an eighth.

  The wyvern planted its tri-clawed feet into the soil and lurched in for a follow-up strike, looking to end its prey quickly so I leapt into action, launching a pair of throwing knives at the wyvern’s face as I sprinted in its direction.

  My aim was true, and the knives found their target, slamming into the side of the creature
’s head. Unfortunately, its hard scales proved more than defensible, blocking each of the knife strikes as the weapons bounced off, landing harmlessly in the grass below. Still, I had grabbed the wyvern’s attention… perhaps even long enough for Hilda to escape!

  “SKKKRAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!” The wyvern let out a horrible screech as it changed directions and charged, its pair of thick limbs carrying it with a surprising amount of speed.

  In an instant I channeled Kord into me as a ball of light, taking the aspect of the frog and using his Aether to perform an empowered leap. I jumped several feet into the air as the wyvern’s snapping maw bit at nothing but air, its beady eyes filled with more than a bit of frustration.

  I called Razyr to my hand as I descended, gripping him in my palm as he transformed into the drakesword and I fell towards the wyvern’s scaly back. The creature turned its head at the last second as I slammed both of my blades into its back… and for a split-second I was sure the beast shot me a reptilian grin.

  My blades bounced off as their sharp points failed to pierce the wyvern’s scales, leaving me off balance and teetering on the creature’s back. The wyvern capitalized, arching its back as it launched its stinger at me with insane speed.

  I tried to shadowshift away, but by the time I got my slayer’s mark up, it was too late. The creature’s stinger stabbed into my side, hitting me with so much force that my body went sailing uncontrollably through the air. Seconds before I slammed into the ground Salence swooped down, using his small draconic body to cushion my fall as we skidded through the dirt.

  I immediately gazed down at my side, expecting to see a flesh wound oozing with noxious venom… but instead I was unscathed. Then I realized…. it was my jacket! Saved by the coat of the bladesinger!

  My father returned to his feet and resumed his dance with the wyvern, this time calling on his avatar of Vorghan as his translucent tentacles wrapped him in a protective shell. This spiritform was clearly far superior to any of the others he’d used before. It was also an elite skill, likely giving him an edge that would amplify his abilities much further than his level, and yet the man seemed barely able to stand against the wyvern’s assault.

  Suddenly a scream echoed across the violet field, a pained screech coming directly from the lungs of Thamriul. I peered into the distance, watching in horror as the dark elf absorbed a stinger directly in his abdomen. His health reticle immediately plummeted, dropping into the red as the elf collapsed into a bed of flowers.

  “Tham!” my father yelled, but I was already on it, shadowshifting to the other wyvern as my blades smashed into its face.

  Resisted

  Resisted?! The damned creature resisted my blow! There was no damn way we could take these things down on our own if it resisted my blow!

  I grimaced as the wyvern recoiled, pivoting its legs and swinging its massive tail at my seemingly helpless form. At the last second, I activated illusionary strike, becoming ethereal as the wyvern’s tail passed through me before reforming at Tham’s side.

  “Fool,” he muttered as the wyvern stumbled off balance behind us. The creature spun into the dirt, wholly expecting to have connected with my body just a second earlier.

  Tham shot me a pained grin as a strange, green venom began to pool in the corners of his mouth. “Take your father and run.”

  “Shut up,” I replied, scooping the nimble daggermage up and heaving him onto my shoulders. The wyvern promptly climbed back to its feet and lunged at us, but a well-timed empowered leap carried us well out of the beast’s range.

  I landed in a crouch beside Horus, who had fled the battle and promptly dug his tusks into the dirt. For being such an imposing creature, the boar really did not have a stomach for battle.

  “Watch him!” I ordered Horus, setting Tham’s body across the boar’s bristle-haired back. Then I turned and charged headlong back into the heat of battle.

  Hilda and my father continued to struggle against the deadly wyvern, trading defensible positions as the creature continued to knock them around like mere pawns. Though the pair managed to protect themselves from the creature’s deadly stinger, each blow continued to diminish their ever-shrinking health reticles. And then there was the second Thornland Wyvern taking flight and soaring in our direction.

  “We need to get out of here!” I yelled to the pair, darting in and deflecting a tail strike that looked to snake past Hilda’s defenses. “How far is the bridge?”

  “Just beyond the valley… a few miles,” my dad grunted, swinging Sledge with all his might into the wyvern’s hind leg. The blow managed to hit flush, knocking the creature’s leg in an awkward direction and forcing it to stumble off balance. “You two get out of here!” he suddenly yelled, tightening his grip on the sprite hammer. “I’ll—”

  “No!” I interrupted, drawing a look of surprise on his bearded face. Again, he was trying to play the role of protective father, and in another time and place, I would’ve welcomed it. But in Aetheria I was still the stronger one… He may have been my father, but right now I needed to be the one to protect him.

  “Get to Horus!” I ordered before rolling away as the second wyvern crashed into the ground beside me. The creature flailed about, tearing up the ground as it tried to snatch me up in its maw. I responded with a shadow snare, sending shadowy tendrils that wrapped around the bottom of the creature’s jaw, holding it fast to the ground, if for only a second. “Get to Horus and head to the bridge!”

  “What about you?” he replied, his voice conflicted.

  “I’ll be fine,” I replied with confidence, before turning my gaze to meet Hilda’s. “Hil, let’s take to the skies!”

  26

  To the Skies!

  Hilda nodded, her stance firm and her gaze resolute. The first of the wyverns was nearly on top of her, salivating as it sought to sink its venomous fangs into her flesh…

  But it would not have her.

  Hilda absorbed Ivanellios into her as a ball of light, causing translucent aethereal wings to sprout from her back. With a quick flap she went airborne, narrowly dodging the wyvern’s bite attack and leaving the creature in the dust, screeching in frustration.

  Following her lead, I dismissed Kord and drew in Salence’s Aether, taking the aspect of the dragon as wings formed on my back and claws grew on my appendages. Without hesitation, I launched myself into the air, cycling the dragon’s Aether through my body to its fullest extent. The wings themselves were still foreign to me, an ability that I hadn’t quite fully grasped. Thankfully, Salence’s thoughts echoed inside my own, giving me guidance and allowing me to take the skies like the dragonkin I’d become!

  “Here they come!” Hilda warned, pointing to the pair of wyverns as they ascended in our direction. The creatures seemed to have completely forgotten about my father and Tham. No, their focus was centered on the lone pair that had dared steal the skies from them.

  Well, we weren’t going to give it back without a fight.

  Hilda and I took off as the pair of wyverns closed in on us, riding the wind current as it carried us across the valley. It felt amazing to soar amongst the clouds, to see the surface of Aetheria blur as I reached towards the heavens. I wanted to savor it, to take Hilda by the hand and explore the skies with her... but that would have to wait. If we dropped our guard for even a second, those beasts would be painting the clouds crimson with our lifeblood.

  The first of the wyverns gained on us quickly, using its expansive wings to send it barreling through the sky in our direction. As the creature closed in, I pressed my feet against Hilda and pushed off, sending us soaring in opposite directions as the wyvern chomped at the air between us. The beast roared in frustration, then made a quick turn in Hilda’s direction. My first instinct was to fly to her aid, but the second wyvern had already set its sights on me. I just had to trust that she could handle herself in the skies... she had had her wings for quite a bit longer than I did, after all.

  “Look out!” Salence warned, his voice bouncing
off the walls of my mind. My body instantly reacted, corkscrewing in the air as the edge of the wyvern’s jaw scraped across my back. My dragon wings fluttered, regulating me mid-flight as the wyvern began to circle for another attack. With half a second to breathe, I peered down to the ground where my father and Tham remained. Thankfully, the pair were now atop Horus and making their way towards the edge of the valley.

  The wyvern made its turn and began to charge at me head on, its huge sinewy wings catapulting it forward with impressive speed. My instincts told me to flee, to turn and fly away from the imposing beast. Instead I doubled down, channeling my dragon familiar’s resolve as the wyvern closed in.

  The creature made its move once more, waiting until it was unbearably close before snapping its jaws in my direction. Again, I let draconic instincts take over, giving my leathery wings a mighty flap and tucking my appendages in as the wyvern soared just inches beneath me.

  I extended my legs back out, running the length of the creature’s back as its tail came in for an additional attack. The stinger shot in, but using nevermore and the sleeve of my bladesinger coat, I managed to deflect the strike wide. Then, before the creature’s tail could recoil, I leapt from its back and resumed my flight.

  “You can’t keep this up forever,” Salence’s voice whispered in my mind. “Not at the rate you’re feeding off my Aether.”

  “We just have to make it to safety,” I urged, though I wasn’t entirely sure safety was what lied before us. “Please, just hold—”

  “Zander, dive!” Salence’s voice echoed louder this time, interrupting my thoughts with his fierce urgency. Without thinking, I followed his instructions, pulling my dragon wings in tightly against my body as I let myself fall.