by Virlyce
Charon weighed the leather pouches in his hands and frowned. “So little,” he muttered as he entered his cabin.
***
The light had blinded Sophie, causing her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she discovered that the group was on a cliff. It was similar to the one they were just on, but the grass was purple, and the trees were gnarled and black with red nettles hanging off their branches. The sun couldn’t be seen, but the land and sky was lit up with a purple light.
“It looks like we made it,” Zeke said. He inhaled through his nose while stretching his arms towards the sky and coughed. “Ah, the sweet smell of sulfur. Just what I was looking forward to.”
“There’s a town over there. It must be Fuselage,” Zul said as he pointed towards a small settlement with a semi-spherical, blue barrier covering it. There was a black road in the purple grass leading towards the town. The Red Blade Adventurers looked at each other and nodded before taking their first steps along the path.
***
Vur sat next to Lindyss while cuddling Snuffles. They were once again in the lower section of the arena, waiting behind the metal gate. Vur asked, “This is my last match, right?”
“Yes. Use your dragon magic and stop hiding your aura once you’re out there,” Lindyss said as she petted Snuffles. Over the weeks, she grew strangely attached to the fluffy boar. “Although they probably don’t want to keep you here, it won’t hurt to show off your strength once in a while.” Lindyss showed her fangs as she smiled. Vur nodded.
“Today is a special day folks. The ninety-nine-time winner, the devourer, will be fighting his last match here today regardless of whether he wins or loses. His opponent will be a cerberus which was tamed by our very own tribe chieftain. The cerberus is a three-headed monstrosity with the ability to manipulate hell fire. Its speed is unmatched, and it took a raid of twenty-four of our strongest warriors to weaken it enough to be tamed. It has been starved for three days, and it will be out for blood!”
The crowd hissed and thumped their tails against the floors. The arena shook, and dust fell from the ceiling above Vur and Lindyss. “She’s really firing them up today,” Lindyss said. “They’re expecting a long, drawn-out, bloody battle. Make sure to disappoint them.”
The gates opened, and Vur dashed out. His eyes flashed with a golden light, and a sky-blue, web-like pattern of runes spread from his forehead down to his toes. The cerberus that had been charging at Vur stopped and growled as its hackles rose into the air, making it seem twice as large. Its body was pitch-black, and its three heads had round, red eyes. Its teeth were as long as Vur’s hands and two tails pointed at the sky. The audience fell silent as an invisible pressure descended, their bodies tensing. The atmosphere was suffocating, and a few snakemen gasped as they tried to breathe.
The cerberus’ eyes shone, and a halo made of black flames surrounded its body. It roared, causing the ring to expand and crash against the walls of the arena, setting them ablaze. The naga and lamia sitting in the first rows let out screams as the magic shielding them from the cerberus’ sight was destroyed, and they scrambled away from the spreading flames. Vur had crossed his arms and disrupted the halo as it crashed into him. His eyes flashed golden, and the black flames on his arms crystallized, dropping to the ground.
Vur let out a roar that caused the audiences’ ears to ring and charged towards the cerberus while unsheathing Lust. The cerberus’ body tensed as it pounced towards Vur. Vur’s eyes glowed once again, and a dome of purple surrounded the cerberus while it was in midair. Its eyes widened as it crashed to the floor, causing a shockwave to spread out in the sand. It raised its head and stiffened. Vur was standing over it with his dagger raised.
“Stop!” a voice called out, and Vur turned towards the voice with his eyes still shining. The naga that spoke was the chieftain of the tribe, and he shivered when he met Vur’s gaze. His throat pulsed as he swallowed and said, “You win.” Phoenix downs were expensive, and he didn’t want to use one if he didn’t have to. Besides, if the cerberus died and was resurrected by the item, its abilities would lower. Only a proper white mage could resurrect someone without consequences.
Vur’s eyes stopped glowing, and the runes surrounding his body faded away. The dome above the cerberus was lifted, and it rolled over while whimpering, exposing its belly.
“The w-winner is the devourer!” the lamia announcer said. Her face was pale, and goosebumps decorated her skin. The audience let out a collective sigh as Vur returned to Lindyss’ side.
Lindyss smiled at Vur who was yawning. “Good job,” she said. “Are you ready to go home?”
9
“What is that?” A demon adventurer shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and peered into the distance. The other adventurers finished decapitating the zombies they were fighting before turning to look. The plains were still scorched, the grass blackened, and corpses littered the ground. Vultures circled the sky, and their feasting figures could be seen all over the plains like strange crops growing out of bodies.
“It looks like a cloud of ash?” another adventurer asked.
A shiver ran down Doofus’s spine, and he called for his students to retreat.
“What’s going on?” Gabriel asked. His short body was a mess: his mace dripped with ichor, his clothes were spattered with dried blood, his black hair was matted and disheveled. There were tiny horns just beginning to sprout from his temples. The smile on his face vanished when he noticed his classmates’ grim expressions.
“I don’t know,” Doofus said and frowned, “but it’s not good. We’re pulling back to Traurig.” The students didn’t complain as they headed back to the north—they were all tired from fighting and none of them were in the mood to speak after partaking in the slaughter. Although they were only fighting zombies, nothing they had done previously had mentally prepared them for killing something so human. They trudged past adventurers heading towards the plains, coming from Traurig, and soon the fortified city was in sight.
Back on the plains, adventurers were still killing zombies, ignoring the cloud of ash in the distance. “Is it getting bigger?” a white mage asked after causing a zombie to disintegrate with holy magic.
“Something doesn’t seem right about that,” a man said, wiping the ichor off his blade with a dirty rag. “I’m going back.” A few voices murmured in agreement.
The cloud grew larger as time passed, and more adventurers chose to leave. “Do you feel that?” a woman with a rapier asked. A circle of rotting corpses lay around her. The grass trembled as the earth shook. Flecks of ash bounced off the ground like jumping fleas.
“It’s cavalry!” an archer shouted as he ran north. The remaining adventurers turned towards the cloud and stiffened. Tiny figures—black horses with riders—were rapidly approaching. The sounds of hooves resounded as thousands of skeletal horses charged, their bones rattling as their skeletal riders urged them forward. The adventurers turned to run, throwing spells and traps into the distance, but the wave of riders didn’t stop.
Screams sounded out in the air as the horsemen caught up to the slower adventurers. “I’m too pretty to die!” a man shouted as he was engulfed by the sea of bones. Everywhere the horsemen went, the living and zombies alike were turned into bloody paste. The flood or bones only came to a halt after it reached the edges of the charred plains.
The leader of the undead horsemen was a black skeleton wearing a mithril helmet and riding a six-legged skeletal beast. It pointed towards the east with its bloody spear, and the flood turned before resuming its charge. The bodies of the fallen adventurers twitched as a group of liches rode through the carnage and reanimated their bodies, stitching the shattered bones back together.
***
A messenger stood in front of the king, reading from a scroll. The contents described the brutality of the undead: how they slaughtered everything without impunity, how they swept through villages bordering the wilderness, how they reanimated demons and humans
alike to increase the size of their army. When the messenger finished listing the towns destroyed, he was dismissed by the king who had a weary look on his face. Behind the king, wearing a white robe, Gale stood with his body trembling.
“Something must be done about this,” Gale said as he clenched his fists. His brown hair reached just above his watering, blue eyes. His frame was thin, and his knuckles were white from grasping his metal staff. “The people are suffering. Let me lead the charge, Your Highness.”
The king nodded and the fat underneath his neck jiggled. “Very well, I’ll entrust you with the operation, Archbishop Gale. You may act with my authority.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Gale said and bowed his head before leaving the throne room, heading for the church. All members of the clergy were white mages, a class adept at dealing with undead through holy magic. The enforcers of the church also included paladins—warriors with the ability to use light magic. With these people, Gale didn’t believe he’d lose to a mob of unruly undead.
***
Tafel sat beside her father as he stamped a piece of paper. She frowned at the word “approved” that appeared in bright-red ink. She could clearly see the title of the paper from where she was sitting. It read, “Armistice between our two nations.”
“Won’t the humans attack us?” Tafel asked her father. Her second pair of horns had already grown as long as her first pair. They curved over her head and pointed behind her. Red and blue lights lit the horns from the inside and traveled along their lengths.
The demon lord shook his head. “Although our hatred for each other runs deep, the undead is a greater threat to both of us. Of course, we won’t send in our full strength; we’ll send just enough to make it seem like we’re helping. I’m sure the humans are doing the same.”
Tafel frowned but thought it made sense. “But the humans never offered us a peace treaty like this before. A coalition army of this size, can it work?”
“Stop worrying about stuff like that and come eat your food before it gets cold,” her mother said, appearing at the doorway to the study. “This is what happens when you fill her head with magic and warfare.”
“Your mother’s right. You shouldn’t worry about these things,” her father said in a monotonous voice. “You’re just a child after all.”
“I’m almost six,” Tafel said and pouted.
“You’re almost a child then,” her mother said. “Now come along.”
Tafel made a face as she left her father’s side. I’ll show them, she thought as she closed the door to the study. She didn’t need Dustin to teach her. She was a genius. Losing Dustin’s guidance was just a minor setback.
***
“Mama! Grimmy! I’m home!”
At the entrance to the valley, demarcated by white boulders with ore veins running through them, Vur waited with Lindyss behind him and Snuffles on his head and shoulders. His skin was tanned from the desert sun, but Lindyss’ remained unchanged, her face as pale as the moon in the sky. The basilisk and the bats had returned to the Fountain of Youth to rest. Lindyss wanted to hide away as well, but Vur insisted she come with him, threatening to tell Sera bad things about her if she left. The grass within the valley glowed with a silver light, and shining herb patches of all colors speckled the silver landscape. The ground shook, causing the colors to shimmer within the moonlight. Voices echoed through the valley, startling some birds into flight.
“Vur’s back?”
“He’s really back!”
“I knew he’d be okay.”
Five figures flew into the sky, coming from different mountain tops, and landed in the valley. The grass was pressed to the ground from the wind. Like the herbs, Lindyss lowered herself to the floor, kneeling and lowering her head.
The golden dragon with red eyes was the first to speak while the others examined Vur. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you called for Grimmy and not me,” Vernon said as he blew a puff of smoke at Vur.
Vur giggled and batted away the smoke with his hands. “I missed you too, Papa,” he said. His dark-brown hair with multiple braids at the ends swayed with the movement.
“Ah, does this mean I’m going to have to start hunting again?” Grimmy said and sighed. His eyes closed as he shook his head and lay prone on the grass. “What a pain.”
Leila nuzzled Grimmy’s neck with her silver snout. “Don’t act like you weren’t the one who missed him the most,” she said and turned towards Vur. “He burned down who knows how many towns and convinced the liches to invade the humans because he was upset, you know? I missed you, child. Welcome home.”
“Are you wearing pants?” Prika asked and blinked. She poked the black leather with her talon, careful not to cut it.
Sera smacked away Prika’s claw and picked Vur up before nuzzling her cheek against his body. “Don’t ever disappear on me again. Do you know how worried I was about you?” she asked. “Have you been well?”
“Yeah! Auntie Lindyss took me to lots of places. She fed me to a miro, threw me into an antlion pit, and sold me to the nagas,” Vur said with a smile. He stuck his tongue out at Lindyss as all the dragons turned to stare at her.
Lindyss’ hands started to sweat. She cleared her throat as she raised her head, still kneeling. “H-hey, Grimmoldesser, long time no see,” she said and did a small wave with her hand.
Grimmy blinked and raised his head off the ground to stare down at her face. “It’s you! The little bat,” he said. “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”
For now, Lindyss thought as sweat rolled down her back. “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said. An awkward laugh escaped from her lips as she fixed her hair. “I see you’re still well. You found yourself a mate?”
“Who’s she?” Leila asked Grimmy, raising an eyebrow.
“She’s an elf I used to roam with.”
“Roam, eh?” Leila said, her expression neutral.
Grimmy laughed and looked away.
“What’s this about selling my baby to the nagas?” asked Sera as she glared at Lindyss. Smoke drifted out of the sky-blue dragon’s nostrils.
“Ah, that must’ve been a misunderstanding,” Lindyss said as she winked at Vur. “Right?”
“Nope. She made me her servant and then sold me to the rich man.”
Lindyss fell onto her face. “Are you trying to get me killed!?” she asked, raising her head and grabbing the strands of grass in front of herself, tearing them out by their roots.
“No, no. It’s just training,” Vur said, echoing back the words he heard from her many times.
A vein popped up on Lindyss’ forehead. This brat. She took in a deep breath and pursed her lips. How was she going to explain this to the angry dragon?
“How much did you sell him for?” Prika asked.
Aren’t you asking the wrong kinds of questions? Lindyss thought but said, “Three hundred red crystals.”
“She’s lying. She bet on me every time and has close to a billion red crystals,” Vur said. He counted with his fingers. “That’s like ten thousand green crystals.”
“You want to take not only my life, but my fortune too!?”
Prika nodded her head and scratched her chin. She hummed. “One billion red crystal’s not too bad of a dowry I guess.”
Everyone, including Snuffles, stared at Prika.
“What?” she asked, curling her tail. Her chest puffed out as she sat on her hind legs and folded her arms over her chest. “She has to take responsibility for her actions, right?”
“What’s a dowry?” Vur asked, tilting his head.
“It’s a gift that someone gives you when they’ve troubled you,” Sera replied while glaring at Prika.
“Oh. She already gave me a dowry then. She gave me Lust and put a ring on me,” Vur said.
Lindyss buried her face in her hands.
Prika’s eyes twinkled. “Do you have anything to say about that?” she asked, her smile widening.
“Nothing. Nothing at al
l,” Lindyss mumbled with her face still in her hands. “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s best if I stop talking.”
Grimmy laughed and his tail thumped against the ground, causing the valley to shake. “You have a never-ending fountain of water, yet you’re still this thirsty,” he said with a grin on his face.
Leila smacked his snout. “Don’t use that kind of language in front of Vur.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. He’s too young to understand anyway,” Grimmy said while rubbing his nose. The ground continued to rumble as he chuckled.
Sera coughed. “Well, I’d like to know how Vur ended up in your care,” she said to Lindyss.
“He came into my home one day and fell asleep after scaring my basilisk to death. I found out his control over magic was just as horrendous as his manners”—Lindyss glared at Grimmy—“so I decided to teach him out of respect for Grimmoldesser.”
“What exactly is your relationship with Grimmy?” Leila asked.
Lindyss pursed her lips and stared at the ground. The moonlight shone on her, causing her hair to cast shadows over half her face. Her lips trembled. “Grimmy…,” she said and sighed. “Grimmy was my light when everything was dark. He was the moon that lit up my night. He brought warmth to my heart when it was cold. I—“
Grimmy flicked her forehead. “Stop messing around; she’ll take you seriously.”
Lindyss rubbed her eyes and clutched her chest while turning her head to the side. “Even now you reject me, my lo—. Okay, okay, I’ll stop,” she said while waving her arms in front of herself. “Don’t shoot.”
Grimmy closed his mouth and glared at her, black smoke billowing out of the corners of his mouth.
Lindyss sighed. “You were much more fun before you got hitched,” she said and faced Leila. “Serious answer. He stole my prey and then performed unspeakable experiments on me that had lasting effects to this day. In the end, he became my best friend.”