by Eric Vall
“You think this is over?” the god’s deep voice bellowed.
As he spoke, the grains of sand on the floor that had come from his extinguished sand minions began to gather together. The granules slid across the floor and formed small waves of sand that moved toward one another. Once the waves met, the sand came together and began to stretch into the air. Within moments, the figure of a tall man formed before our very eyes. Carmedy gasped as two sinister black eyes emerged from the head of the sandy frame. Its body now complete, the being flexed its fingers and limbs as though to test them before it clenched its fists.
“You may have vanquished my sand demons, but I am not so easily defeated.” The god’s booming voice came from the newly crafted being that stood before us, but the body had no mouth upon its face.
“On the contrary, you will be easily defeated.” I glowered at the sand god, and his dark eyes narrowed, but then I continued before he could speak. “I can sense that your strength has been weakened. You drew much of your power from your sand demons, and now that they’ve been vanquished, your threat level has greatly decreased.”
The sand god’s eyes widened, and I saw the fear within them.
How I craved that desperate look when my victims discovered that they soon no longer be a part of this world.
My opponent raised his hand above his head, and one of the mounds of golden sand began to raise into the air and move toward him. As he summoned the sand, the glittering grainy twisted to form a long sword. The weapon hovered into the deity’s hand, and the god pointed it at me threateningly.
A sinister smile crept across my face, and I gripped the God Slayer in my hand in preparation for his attack. This wouldn’t take long, this foolish deity didn’t know whom he had just challenged.
“Step away,” I said to minions, and they immediately moved to the far side of the cavern. “I’ll deal with this quickly.”
“It is you who shall be dealt with quickly,” the god’s voice shouted angrily, and his black eyes glowered at me. Without another word, he rushed at me.
As he came within a few feet of me, longsword reared back to strike, I snapped my fingers, and the god exploded into particles of sand. He stumbled, confused now that his body had been shattered. Then his eyes widened in horror as he looked down at himself and the realization that he was completely unprotected and outmatched dawned in his eyes.
“As I said before,” I smiled as I reached out and grabbed ahold of his very essence. “This will be over quickly.”
And it was.
Chapter 3
“Well, you certainly didn’t hold back,” Rana said with a wry grin as we exited the pyramid dungeon.
“He was insufferable, and there are other matters that are more deserving of my attention.” I shrugged. “There was no need to waste any further time on him.
“Fine with me,” Rana rubbed her paws together excitedly as a few large sacks floated out of the dungeon’s entrance and settled in the sand before me. As usual, I had instructed my shadow slaves to search the cavern for treasure. This time, however, it looked as though my invisible underlings hadn’t found much.
Rana looked back into the tunnel and then looked back at the two sacks at my feet with a frown. “Where’s the rest of it?” the fox asked as she furrowed her brow.
“This is it.” I gestured to the bags.
“Not every dungeon will be a treasure trove, Rana,” Annalíse said as she and Morrigan walked past us to feed our riding lizards.
“I know, but still, I expected more than this.” The fox-tailed woman wrinkled her nose, bent down to open the sacks, poured the contents onto the ground, and began to sift through them. There were chalices, gold coins, precious gems, and pieces of jewelry. The fox-girl squinted her eyes at each one, held them up to the light, and turned them in her paw for a few moments before she put it down and picked up something else.
We all knew what she was searching for. The fox sought the sacred objects. Rana had stolen from a particular sorcerer who had decided to force her to find the artifacts. When the fox had refused, he had ransomed her family for the sacred objects. We had decided that we would seek out the treasured items, but we wouldn’t turn them over to the sorcerer. We would take the power for ourselves and kill the sorcerer.
“Do you see a sacred object amongst these items?” I asked as I knelt down beside Rana.
“No, just the usual stuff,” the red-haired thief said with a sad sigh as she began to replace the items in the sack.
“We’ll find the rest of them, promise,” Carmedy said gently, and she placed a hand on Rana’s shoulder.
“That’s right.” I nodded. “We won’t stop until we find every last one.”
“Thanks, guys,” the fox said with a soft smile. She started to put a silver chalice back into one of the sacks when she suddenly paused. She blinked her eyes in surprise as she drew the chalice closer to her. “Well now, what do we have here?” the fox mumbled as she peered inside of the cup and stuck her paw inside.
“What is it?” Carmedy breathed, and she leaned forward with anticipation. Rana removed her paw from the mouth of the chalice and held out a black velvet pouch.
“Now, where have I seen one of these before?” Rana said with a wry grin. Carmedy gasped at the sight of the small black bag, and I too expressed surprise. We had seen this same sort of bag only once before. Having heard Carmedy’s gasp, Morrigan and Annalíse turned to see what the problem was. When Annalíse’s gaze rested on the velvet pouch in Rana’s furry grasp, her brown eyes grew wide.
“Is that what I think it is?” the swordswoman pointed at the bag.
“I think so, but Morrigan will have to confirm it.” Rana nodded to the pale elf who proceeded to step forward. The fox loosened the pouch’s drawstring and overturned it, and out tumbled a tiny sapphire sphere. Rana held out the smooth marble-sized ball for Morrigan to take, and the white-haired woman picked it up and eyed it carefully. She slowly turned the little orb in her hand and as she did so, the sun’s light reflected off its striking blue perfectly polished surface.
“It is indeed Dragnasí,” the elf finally said, and she handed the sphere back to Rana.
“That’s great!” Carmedy clasped her hands excitedly. “Now we have two of them.” Rana had found the first one among the hoard of treasure in my dungeon. At first, the fox had assumed the tiny sphere to be a jewel of some sort, but Morrigan had informed us that it was, in fact, something far more precious.
It was well known that dragons had long ceased to exist, but thanks to Morrigan, we learned that a few hundred years ago a group of sorcerers crafted a substance called Dragnasí. It was said that if a lizard swallowed Dragnasí, it could turn into a dragon and possess a dragon’s power including flight, but only for brief periods. Deeming Dragnasí unnatural, the Holy Band of Mages had destroyed most of it, but a few had been saved, and now, we had two in our possession.
“Now that we have one for both Scylla and Xerxes, can we feed the Dragnasí to them?” Carmedy pleaded with enthusiasm. “I really want to see them fly, and we can get to the city faster that way.”
“I am afraid not, Carmedy,” I said with an apologetic smile. “Remember, we still don’t know enough about it to use it. We don’t know how long the effects last or how many times we can use it.”
“Alright then.” Carmedy sighed, and her furry black ears drooped a bit.
“Cheer up, pussycat,” Rana tugged at Carmedy’s tail playfully. “We’ll find out how this stuff works soon enough, and before you know it, you’ll be sailing through the clouds with the wind in your fur.”
“I like the sound of that,” Carmedy said with a wide grin, and she closed her eyes for a moment as though she were imagining the sensation of flight.
“You can daydream while we ride to the city Carmedy.” I chuckled as I settled atop Xerxes’ back. “We have business to attend to. Like Rana says, places to go, dungeons to conquer.”
“Okay,” Carmedy said brightly, an
d she took her seat in front of me. Annalíse and Morrigan mounted Scylla, and since we didn’t have our donkey and cart on this continent, Rana climbed on behind them.
“First thing we do when we get to the city is buy another riding lizard,” Rana grumbled as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I like you two and all, but this is a little cramped for my taste, and I’m sure Scylla isn’t exactly enjoying carting all three of us around.”
“We heard you the first ten times Rana,” Annalíse said with a raspy chuckle as our party began to move forward. “A new lizard is on our shopping list.”
“Just checking,” Rana shrugged. “It’s hot enough as it is out here, in fact I think my tail is starting to sweat, but this riding arrangement is only making things worse being all underneath each other like this.”
“Alright Rana we get the picture,” Annalíse sighed and glanced back at the whining fox.
“You know, I’m not so sure you do,” Rana tapped her chin. “You think I’m exaggerating about the heat don’t you?”
Annalíse didn’t say anything and simply raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“You want proof? Look at my poor tail, it’s drooping because of this insane heat,” Rana allowed her tail to go limp for dramatic effect and held it for Annalíse to see.
“You did that on purpose,” the swordswoman snorted, and she pursed her lips together in an effort not to laugh.
“I did no such thing,” Rana sniffed and turned up her nose as though she was offended. “And I’m glad to see that my suffering amuses you. I’m sticky and gross, and my fur is starting to feel all stringy,” the fox pulled at some tufts of her with a look of disgust.
“I look forward to an actual inn,” Morrigan said, and the three other women turned to her with surprise clear on their faces.
“What?” Annalíse said as she blinked. “Did you just say you wanted some creature comforts?”
“Cabins on the ship were small,” Morrigan replied with a shrug of her slender shoulders. “It was surprising, since we paid for the best two.”
“Exactly,” Rana scoffed, “and the three of us were in one of the cabins, while you and the Lord of Evil were in the other. By the way, what were you two doing all night?”
“What are you inferring?” Morrigan asked, and her cheeks began to redden.
“Our cabin had two beds, and I had to snuggle with Carmedy every night for two weeks,” Rana pointed out, and her mouth turned up into a smirk, “but your room only had one bed, so I’m just wondering what you both did all night.”
“It is none of your concern,” Morrigan said after she cleared her throat and fixed her dark eyes on the fox-girl.
“Ohhhh, I’m just curious is all,” Rana continued as her grin spread wider. “You did say that the rooms were very, very small, and I--”
“Oh!” Carmedy gasped as she raised her hand in the air. “I know what Master and Morrigan were doing in their room all night!”
We all turned to the cat-girl as a proud smile came across her face.
“Carmedy--” Morrigan started to say, but both Rana and Annalíse waved their hands at the elf.
“I so want to hear this,” Rana snickered.
“Agreed,” Annalíse said. “Please, tell us what they were doing in their cabin every night for two weeks.”
“They were telling ghost stories!” Carmedy blurted, and then she clapped their hands. “My ears are really sensitive, and I heard them practicing all night. It sounded really fun, and I was going to ask Master if I could join them for--”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Rana said as she tried not to laugh. “Ghost stories?”
“Sure,” Carmedy said with a sage-like nod. “They were practicing being like ghosts.”
“I don’t know if I follow,” Annalíse replied.
“Carmedy, there is no need to explain it to them,” Morrigan said as she crossed her arms and fixed the cat-girl with an angry stare.
“Ignore her,” Rana said. “Tell us more about these ghost stories.”
“Sure.” Carmedy nodded. “First, Master would make all these wet sounds with his mouth, like slime or ghosts creeping through a dungeon. Then Morrigan would moan like she was pretending to be a ghoul, or zombie, or a ghost. She would go all ‘Ohhhhh, ahhhhh, mmmmaaahhhhhh!’ while Master made his wet noises.”
“That’s enough,” Morrigan sighed softly as she covered her face with her hands.
“But it didn’t stop there,” Carmedy continued. “Morrigan would start moaning and groaning louder until she was out of breath. She was really practicing hard, and then she’d let out a final loud gasp, then she would thank Master once she caught her breath, and then they would both take a break for a minute or so before they practiced again.”
“This is quite possibly the best story I’ve ever heard,” Rana giggled as she turned to look at Morrigan and me. “Morrigan, can you give us an example of what Carmedy heard? I’d love to know how you acted like a ghost.”
“Stop,” the elf sighed, and then she covered both of her eyes with her hands.
“You are turning red,” Annalíse pointed out.
“No,” my lover snorted.
“Oh, yes you are,” Rana giggled. “I can see it on your ears.”
“Awwww,” Carmedy sighed. “I’m sorry, Morrigan. I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
“I am not embarrassed,” the dark-mage hissed through her fingers.
“You just sounded like you had a great time practicing with Master,” Carmedy said, “and you seemed to get better every night that you practiced.”
“I really want to hear more,” Rana said. “What happened after their… uhhh… first break?”
“Oh,” Carmedy laughed. “Then it got really super spooky. Master would tell her to either ‘spread her legs,’ or ‘get on her hands and knees,’ or to ‘get on top.’ Then they would both start moaning together. Morrigan would go all like ‘Ohhhh, yeeeeessssss, masssstteeerrrr, sooooo gooooooooddd, ahhhhhhh!’ and then Master would be like ‘ummmmmm, hmmmmmmm, rawwwwwwwwrrrr, grrrrrrrrrrr,’ and they would go like that for almost an hour, sometimes even two or three. Finally, both of them would gasp and moan really loudly, probably because they both scared each other with their ghost noises, and then they would sigh and sound really happy. It seemed like they were both having so much fun, but it also sounded really spooky. That’s why I couldn’t decide if I should ask Master if I could practice with them. I wanted to have fun, but I also don’t like getting scared.”
At this point, neither Rana nor Annalíse could hold back their laughter, and they each practically fell off the lizards as they clutched their sides.
“I… I… I… Can’t… even…” Rana gasped, but Annalíse couldn’t speak through her own laughter.
“Are you two idiots done?” Morrigan hissed as she spread her fingers so that she could glare at them.
“Are… you… done… scaring… Carmedy?” Rana choked out, and then Annalíse actually did off the lizard in a heap of giggling armor.
“That’s enough, you two,” I said, but my words were like trying to plug a broken dam with fingers, and both Rana and Annalíse were both too far gone for my words to penetrate their fit of giggles.
“Did I do something wrong?” Carmedy asked.
“No… no… no…” Rana gasped. “You just keep being you, Carmedy.”
“Oh! Good!” The cat girl laughed a bit nervously, and then she glanced at me. “Ummmm, Master?”
“Yes?” I asked over the sound of the two women laughing.
“I was too scared to ask you on the boat, but when we get to the inn, can you teach my how to make the ghost noises? Morrigan sounded like she had such a good time, and she almost never has a good time doing anything.”
“Carmedy…” Morrigan sighed, but the cat-girl’s question pretty much destroyed Rana and Annalíse, and the fox girl rolled on the ground were crying from laughing so much.
“I can understand if you want Master to only teach
you how to make the spooky noises,” Carmedy said apologetically as she waved to the white-haired elf mage. “I don’t want to interfere with the fun you both are having.”
“Ughhhh,” Morrigan groaned, and then her shoulders slumped as she turned to me. “You should teach her.”
“Yay!” Carmedy clapped her hands, but then Rana and Annalíse stopped laughing suddenly, and turned to look at the three of us.
“Hey! No corrupting the innocents, Demon-man,” the fox tisked as she wagged a finger at me.
“Well, if you want, maybe he can teach you first, Rana?” Carmedy asked innocently. “Or maybe he can teach both you and Annalíse and me at the same time? I’m sure it will be fun if Master makes us all moan and groan all spooky together. Maybe we can even hold hands while we do it.”
“Change of subject!” Annalíse hollered, and then she gestured to the desert as she jumped to her feet. “My, my, my, look at this beautiful sand! I bet there is a whole bunch more to see on our way to the city! Carmedy, how many dunes do think there are here? Can you count them all?”
“Ohhh!” the cat-girl gasped. “I can try, but it will probably take me a while.”
As we rode through the desert, and the sun climbed higher into the sky, their snickers finally subsided, and we all rode in silence as Carmedy occasionally updated us on her sand dune count. As we traveled, my mind began to wander. What adventures awaited us on this continent, and what perils would we face? Better yet, what powers would I rip from the deities whom I defeated? Upon defeating the sand god, I had absorbed his ability to control and manipulate sand, skills that would of course prove very useful in our present surroundings.
There was nothing tastier than the sensation of consuming another god’s power. Euphoric didn’t begin to describe it. My mouth watered at the recollection of the feeling. With the newly acquired sand god’s abilities at my fingertips, I had now taken the abilities of four other deities, and I couldn’t wait to add more to my collection.
Chapter 4
“Look!” Carmedy said excitedly as we neared our destination, “there’s the city!” The rest of us turned to follow her gaze. “It’s beautiful.”