Legacy of the Fallen

by Luke Chmilenko

My words trailed off as the incessant chittering that filled the air abruptly stopped, the jungle around us falling deathly silent. Standing beside me, Amaranth let out a low growl as we all looked out into the brush with confused, yet wary expressions.

  Amaranth hissed, his fur standing on edge as he glanced around rapidly and crouched low on his haunches.

  I sent back to the cat, staring out into the jungle nervously, but not seeing any sign of movement through the dark gloom.

  “Everything just stopped making noise,” Alistair announced from within the group. “I can’t hear anything at all now. Just us.”

  “Me either,” I replied, surprised to find that even with me sharing Amaranth’s senses, I couldn’t pick up any noise from the forest surrounding us, everything seemingly having agreed to fall silent at the same time.

  I asked the cat, not wanting to blind myself by activating True Sight again.

  he replied a heartbeat afterward.

  “You think the creatures finally clued in that we’re here?” Thorne asked somewhat rhetorically, gripping his mace tightly as he searched the canopy above us.

  “I don’t know what else it could be,” Freya said from beside me, holding her spear high. “But I still can’t see anything.”

  “What’s our plan?” Lazarus asked, taking up position alongside Drace and Abaddon, the trio shifting until they were each back to back.

  “Let’s pull—” I started to say when a flash of movement appeared in the corner of my eye, causing my head to snap to the side and land on a set of yellow eyes staring back at me from within the jungle.

  That’s not just one pair of eyes, I thought, feeling my words catch in my throat as I realized that there were dozens more eyes peering out at me from the depths of the jungle, causing a single thought to slam into my mind. We’re surrounded.

  Feeling adrenaline surge through me at the revelation, I felt everything stop for the briefest of moments as if the world itself was taking a deep breath in preparation for what was about to come.

  And when it finally did, the jungle screamed.

  “Holy shi—” I could barely make out Lazarus’s curse through the deafening noise that filled the air, yet as I glanced up at the jungle canopy, there was no doubt in my mind to what he had just seen.

  Leaping out from seemingly everywhere at once, was a veritable swarm of claws and teeth, each of them belonging to a small gremlin-like creature, bearing the very same yellow eyes I had just seen a heartbeat earlier. Gazing at the incoming avalanche of creatures descending upon me, I had just enough time to read the tag that appeared in my vision.

  [Twilight Grove Gremlin] – Level 17

  No sooner were the words burned into my mind than I was driven to my knees from the weight of two of the creatures landing on top of me, their sharp, needle-like teeth and claws passing through my armor as if it wasn’t even there. Thrashing wildly from the pain, I instinctively reached up to tear one of the Gremlins off me, feeling flesh tear as its talons came free. Slamming it against the ground and pinning it in place, the impact stunned the beast long enough for me to look over it, getting a better sense of what we were up against.

  Measuring just over two feet tall, the Gremlin was vaguely bipedal in shape, its body covered in a thick, grey-colored hide. Baring a set of three razor-sharp talons on both of its arms, and a pair of thicker claws on its more powerful legs, there was little doubt in my mind that the creature was a predator in whatever passed for an ecosystem in this grove. A fact that was only re-enforced by the presence of countless jagged teeth in its maw as it shook its head and snarled viciously at me, fighting angrily to escape my grip.

  Feeling the bite from the other Gremlin still on top of me, I instinctively thrust Splinter’s tip into the beast’s open maw, driving it straight through the roof of its mouth and into its brain, causing it to fall limp in my grip. With no time to enjoy my success, I began to reach towards the other that had landed on top of me, the Gremlin having since sunk its teeth into my shoulder. But before my free hand could even travel halfway across my body, two more of the creatures rushed into view, one of them leaping to bite the arm that held Splinter, with the other launching itself directly at my face.

  “Shit!” I shouted to myself in panic, desperately moving my free arm to intercept the airborne Gremlin.

  Catching the vicious creature on my forearm, I managed to shove it away from me, earning a bleeding cut across my cheek in the process as a flailing talon lashed out to scratch me. No sooner did I knock the Gremlinaway than Amaranth suddenly came bounding beside me, biting down onto the creature that affixed itself to my arm, crushing its body easily in his powerful jaws.

  my familiar called to me in a panic as he swept a massive paw at the Gremlinon my shoulder, batting it clean off me in a single blow.

  I shouted back, staggering slightly from Amaranth’s assistance, but managing to force myself back up to my feet.

  “Lyrian!” Freya’s panicked shout interrupted my thought, causing both Amaranth and me to spin in its direction, catching sight of the blonde-haired warrior several steps away from us as she stared at something looming behind the now glowing stone beside me.

  It’s not behind the stone, I corrected myself as I followed Freya’s gaze, craning my head practically straight up until they landed on two massive yellow orbs that seemingly hung high in the air above me. It’s standing over the stone.

  Appearing out from behind the stone, I saw a gargantuan paw reach out from the dim shadows, gripping the side of the jagged rock, causing me to reflexively take a step back in shock as I numbly counted five massive talons protruding from the claw, each of them at least a foot in length. Drawing my gaze back upward towards the eyes that I had seen earlier, I saw a beastly face lower itself down into the light, its maw already open and dripping with saliva.

  “Oh…” The word escaped from me involuntarily as I stared up at the colossal creature, watching its eyes fixate right upon me. Taking a step backward, I felt a primal terror take hold of my heart as it slowly opened its mouth, revealing rows and rows of jagged teeth.

  And then it roared.

  Staggering from the noise as if it were a physical blow, I found myself completely paralyzed, unable to move, unable to think, unable to do anything other than gaze into certain doom. Closing it mouth after what seemed like eternity, the massive creature began to pull itself forward, revealing its near pitch-black body as it rounded the stone, causing a new, golden tag that I had never seen before to point towards it.

  [The Beast] – Raid Boss – Level 19

  That’s not fair, I thought numbly as The Beast suddenly launched itself at me, moving faster than any creature of its size should ever have been capable of moving. That’s just not fair at all.

  Teeth filled my vision for the briefest of moments, before everything plunged into darkness, followed by an intense wave of pain.

  And then there was nothing.

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  Chapter 41

  Passing through the veil of death yet again, I felt my consciousness slowly return as the darkness surrounding me faded away, leaving me looking out at the familiar surroundings of Aldford. Blinking numbly as I processed my rather traumatic death, I felt myself sway on my feet unsteadily, images of gnashing teeth and blinding pain still fresh in my mind.

  Damn, I cursed mentally, bringing up a hand to rub my face, feeling the weight of Death Sickness land on top of me. That death isn’t going to be easy to—

  “You guys have no right to hide shit like this from us!” A nearby harsh voice cut through the air, interrupting my train of thought.

  “Huh?” I croaked, more confused by the angry voice than anything else. Taking my han
d off my face, I blearily looked in the direction of the noise and found myself staring at a handful of Adventurers that I didn’t recognize, facing off with the missing members of our guild. Standing directly between the two groups was Dyre, along with a visibly angry Constantine and another Adventurer that wore a rather familiar set of armor.

  That’s the armor that I made a few days ago, I noted distantly, my brain still not having fully caught up with my resurrection, let alone beginning to process whatever was going on here.

  Having heard the sound of my voice, I saw Constantine’s head snap in my direction, the near rage on his face shifting into dismay. “Lyr!”

  Turning away from the small crowd, Constantine made to move towards me but froze before he could take more than a single step as several faint flashes of light began filling the air around me, all conversation around us immediately coming to a halt.

  The rest of our group, I realized with a hard swallow, turning my head to see Freya appear an arm’s length away from me, along with Drace a short distance away from her, the rest of the group gradually appearing as the seconds passed. Gritting my teeth, I waited for the heart-rending twist of pain that would herald Amaranth’s death, realizing that my familiar was unfortunately out of range of our mental link.

  Yet as the seconds passed, the pain never came, and I could tell that Amaranth’s presence was gradually getting further away from me, kindling the faint hope that the cat had somehow managed to survive.

  If any of us could escape that Beast, he would have the best chance, I thought optimistically as I tried to shake off the mental image of the creature’s teeth once again. All that I remember in the split second that I had seen it was a brief flash of dark, leathery skin.

  “Lyrian,” Constantine finally repeated, having crossed the distance between me and the group of Adventurers, his arm landing on my shoulder drawing me out of my spiraling thoughts before they could firmly take hold. “What happened? Did the…”

  “Something else got us,” I replied, not so far gone that I didn’t sense the implied question behind his words. Pausing for a moment to look into his eyes, I couldn’t help but notice the anger that still burned in them, causing me to shift my gaze past him and onto the Adventurer wearing the armor that I had made.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “Who are those people and why is Dyre here?”

  “That…vulture…” Constantine began to hiss angrily, “was snooping around the ruin this morning and found the dungeon entrance. It was just dumb luck that I overheard him talking about assembling a party after I respawned here.”

  “We…haven’t exactly made it a secret we were working on something in there,” Freya replied wearily, as she joined the conversation. “But, it’s Virtus’s ruin in the end. He can’t go into it without our say so.”

  “That is part of his problem,” the rogue replied. “He doesn’t think that it’s fair we’ve claimed so much.”

  “Not this shit again!” I spat, feeling a spike of anger shoot through me at the familiar topic. It had been annoying enough to deal with Stanton’s mock attempt to seize the ruins, and the last thing we needed right now was to replay that experience with a group of Adventurers. “We don’t have time for this! We need to get back down there, not just us, but the whole guild. We found it, Constantine. We found what we were looking for.”

  I saw my friend’s eyes widen at my statement, excitement briefly replacing the anger in his eyes, lasting just long enough until a familiar voice barked out a second time.

  “I’m still waiting for an answer, Constantine!” the voice called. “Or maybe now that Virtus has bitten off more than it can chew, I should talk to the Guildmaster directly! Seeing how he’s the one who is really in charge here!”

  “He’s been trying to bait me into hitting him ever since Dyre arrived,” Constantine warned through gritted teeth. “Can’t say I’m not tempted.”

  “Let’s keep that option on the table for the moment,” I growled as I motioned for Constantine to lead the way back to the man, my already foul mood at being jumped by a Raid Boss of all things, growing worse by the second. Having my emotions cluttered by the wild swings that Death Sickness always brought wasn’t helping either. “Who is this guy? Is he part of another guild?”

  “Dunno,” Constantine replied quietly. “But his name is Ignis.”

  “Must be someone from the new group of settlers,” Freya whispered to me as the three of us approached the man and the waiting Adventurers. “I don’t recognize the name at all, nor the others with him.”

  “Hrm,” I grunted, fixating my attention on the man’s familiar armor, pegging it specifically as one of the Serpentine Striker armor sets that I had crafted. Despite whatever problems he claimed to have with Virtus, they clearly didn’t extend to buying my armor.

  Nor bitching at the person who crafted it in the first place, I thought grimly as the three of us came to a stop in front of Ignis, the Adventurers milling behind him having taken several steps back at my arrival. Hmm, maybe everyone isn’t on the same page here.

  Saying nothing as we came to a stop, I glared at the man, my eyes taking in the sharp features on his face and the thin line of white hair that protruded from the edges of his helmet. Looks like a half-elf, or maybe an elf.

  “So,” Ignis began, looking me up and down, his eyes noticeably lingering on the damaged portions of my armor. “I know you guys are a hiding a dungeon from all of us.”

  “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied, keeping my expression neutral as I spoke, knowing that it would aggravate the man.

  “Bullshit, you don’t know!” the elf exclaimed, his face turning into a scowl. “I saw the ruin entrance myself!”

  “You did?” I asked, shifting my eyes over to the Justicar. “So, you admit to trespassing. Did you hear that, Justicar?”

  “I most certainly did,” Dyre replied, turning his faceless gaze onto Ignis. “Did you have express permission to be on Virtus’s property?”

  “Permission?” The man snarled. “I don’t need permission to explore a ruin!”

  “An unclaimed ruin, perhaps,” Dyre stated. “Yet this one has been legally claimed by Virtus.”

  “That’s because everything here has been claimed by Virtus!” Ignis hissed. “This town, the nearby ruins, that’s all any of us ever hear! Virtus owns this! Virtus owns that!”

  We earned all of those claims,” Freya answered. “Through blood and sweat. You want something of your own? Go and find it.”

  “You earned them by being first,” Ignis countered. “Now you’re cockblocking the rest of us from catching up!”

  “Now who’s spouting bullshit, Ignis?” I asked, motioning towards the armor that he was wearing. “You’re clearly not suffering.”

  “I’m wearing something I actually earned!” Ignis answered, slapping a hand on his chest.

  “That’s funny,” Freya said. “Because I seem to recall that I was the one to kill that snake.”

  “You—” Ignis began to sputter.

  “You have no idea what’s at stake here, Ignis,” I stated, cutting the man off and seeing his eyes widen in anger. “And I don’t have the time, nor the obligation to explain it to you. Suffice to say when you and the other Adventurers have a reason to know, you will know.”

  “You mean after you’ve all had a chance to earn your glory and post it to your feed,” the elf countered angrily. “I know—”

  “You don’t know shit, Ignis,” I interrupted the man in a cold voice, letting my frustration leak into my tone. “And you’ll just have to take me at my word that this is more important than anything we have in our feed. Now if you’ll excuse me, we’re done here.”

  “Like hell, we’re done!” Ignis called to me as I stepped past him and his posse and began walking towards the Town Hall, the guild moving to follow behind me. “I’m far from the only one who is tired of Virtus running this town like its own personal kingdom!”<
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  “What was that all about, Lyrian?” Lazarus asked in a tired voice as we entered the building, temporarily taking Constantine’s place as he caught up beside me.

  “Just an impatient idiot who knows we found a dungeon,” I replied, angling our approach to the far end of the room and the stairs to the upper level. “Have you seen him before? He was part of your group that came up here.”

  “No, I don’t know him,” Lazarus said. “Though I’ll ask Ransom and Sawyer too. Stanton kept us under a pretty watchful eye while we were travelling.”

  “What are we doing now?” Constantine asked from over my shoulder as we all thundered across the room, causing the handful of Adventurers sitting at tables to look in our direction.

  “We need to let Aldwin know what we found,” I said, then lowered my voice to a whisper. “And Stanton too, I suppose.”

  “Then after that, we need to get every single guild member still in town and get ready to head back,” I continued. “Amaranth is still alive down there, and I don’t want to leave him any longer than I have to.”

  “Oh, damn, Lyr; I didn’t know Amaranth survived!” Freya commented, casting a wide-eyed glance at me. “I’ll start sending out private messages to anyone still around town. Hopefully, we’ll still have a good core around.”

  “Thanks, Freya,” I replied, pausing to look back at the rest of the guild that had followed us into the Town Hall, the majority of them taking a seat at our usual two tables and whispering between one another, the survivors of the battle with the Sentinel eagerly updating those who hadn’t made it through the fight. “We’ll need everyone we can get.”

  “And more,” Lazarus grunted as I turned around to climb the stairs. “The last thing I expected was to have a damned Raid Boss jump us. I didn’t even know this game had Raid Bosses at our level.”

  “Fun for us to find out the hard way,” I groused, glancing behind me as I led the way to Aldwin’s study, hoping that the Knight would be around.

  Knocking on the door twice, I heard the Bann call out without a moment’s hesitation, “Come in!”