Shattered Lands: A LitRPG Series

by Darren Pillsbury

  “Ah! Ah! Ah!” Drogar yelled, swatting at tiny spots of flame that had splashed onto his bare skin.

  He wheeled back behind the column and continued to slap at the specks of fire until they were all extinguished.

  “Okay, new plahn, guys!” the barbarian called out. “I theenk we should run!”

  “Ya think?!” Mira shouted as she fired another four arrows and ducked to safety.

  “Go, go, GO!” Simik yelled.

  Drogar sprinted for the exit. Everyone else followed in a straight line behind him –

  Except Daniel. As the closest to the monster, he ran deeper into the darkness to put distance between him and the dragon, then circled back towards the cavernous room’s entrance.

  Over his shoulder he could see Mira darting from pillar to pillar, firing arrows as she went.

  Simik was moving remarkably fast for such stubby legs.

  But Vlisil was even shorter, and he ran too slowly. He fell behind the others. Even Mira, who started out fifty feet behind him, passed him by.

  Suddenly the dragon began to move. Fast.

  The cavern shook as its feet slammed down on the floor. Gold coins fell in avalanches around its body, and its massive tail scraped loudly across stone.

  But the dragon wasn’t moving towards the group.

  It was heading perpendicular to them – deeper into the darkness.

  After Daniel.

  Or at least that’s what he thought – until its head cleared the first row of stone columns.

  Suddenly the dragon turned. Now its open jaws were directly in line with the retreating group.

  Not only that, but the bar over its head was fully charged.

  “GUYS, SCATTER!” Daniel screamed. He was the only one who could see what was happening.

  The horror seemed to unfold in slow motion.

  Liquid fire shot out of the dragon’s throat.

  Mira and Simik heard Daniel in time, and broke left and right.

  Drogar was already out of range.

  But Vlisil… Vlisil was too slow.

  The liquid flame slammed into him like a fire hose, knocking him onto his face.

  “AAAAAAAAAARRH!” he screamed as he stumbled to his feet.

  He was basically a ball of flame with a dark silhouette of flailing limbs at the center.

  He ran about twenty feet, leaving behind a trail of burning cloth – but he finally stumbled and fell into a pile of gold, which collapsed over him in an avalanche.

  “NOOOOO!” Drogar roared in anguish.

  Without thinking of his own safety, Daniel ran for the goblin, rushing from pillar to pillar. “Mira, distract it!” he yelled.

  She stepped out from behind a stone pillar and fired at the dragon’s flank. The arrows did virtually nothing to the dragon’s scaly hide, but it was enough of an annoyance to make the beast angle its head back around to see what was going on.

  Daniel reached the goblin. Vlisil’s feet were the only things still sticking out of the pile of gold. Daniel grabbed them and pulled him out of the suffocating coins, then turned him over.

  The goblin’s face was hard to look at – charred and blistered beyond recognition.

  Vlisil’s eyelids fluttered open. At least his eyes were undamaged.

  “…you… came…”

  Daniel dropped to his knees to pick Vlisil up. “Hold on, I’ll get you out of here, we’ll use the healing potions – ”

  The goblin chuckled, though it was more of a strangled wheeze.

  “What’s so funny?” Daniel asked, though he asked more to distract the goblin than out of any real desire to know.

  “…I… had them…”

  Daniel looked down at him in horror. “What?”

  The goblin pointed with one blackened finger. “…the cloak… I was carrying it…”

  Daniel looked back at the tattered, flaming remains scattered across the stone floor, and all his hope died.

  If the vials hadn’t already been destroyed, there was no time to find the right one – not amongst that burning, tattered mess.

  But he had to try.

  He moved to go –

  The goblin caught his arm. Vlisil was too weak to actually stop Daniel, but the gesture was enough.

  “…no time… hit points… too low…”

  The goblin was telling the truth. His numbers appeared in faint outline above his head, dropping second by second. 70… 60… 50…

  Daniel ignored them and gathered up the frail little body in his arms. He could hear the crinkling of burnt cloth against his armor, could smell the stench of singed hair. “Just hang on – ”

  “…don’t worry… it doesn’t hurt… after the first couple of seconds…”

  Daniel stared into Vlisil’s eyes. The goblin was smiling faintly.

  “…go … don’t worry… I’ll see you again…”

  And then his features went slack. His head tilted back, and his eyes turned blank and unfocused.

  There was no point in carrying him out, so Daniel set him down.

  The tiny body slumped back in the gold.

  “DANIEL, THE DRAGON – IT’S COMING FOR YOU!” Mira screamed.

  Without another thought, he picked up his sword and ran.

  65

  Eric

  As soon as he finished possessing the serpents, Eric packed up the Demonomicon, strapped it to his back, and made his way down to the white stepping stones. As he jumped from one to the next, he angrily obsessed about how Lotan had ruined his moment of triumph.

  Then he heard it.

  A distant roar, both high-pitched and rumbling at the same time.

  Eric froze.

  What the hell was THAT?!

  It wasn’t one of MINE…

  The sound was muted – but if it was able to pierce this deep into the mountain, through all these walls of stone, it had to be close.

  Daniel.

  Eric’s eyes opened wide, and he started running across the stones towards the shore.

  66

  Daniel

  They made it out of the treasure room without anyone else dying.

  The dragon didn’t stop, though. They could still hear its outraged screams and feel its footsteps thudding through the ground.

  But they were back in the main cavern now. They raced through the piles of monstrous corpses, then sped towards the fork in the path.

  As the rest of the group sprinted past him, Daniel looked back in anguish at the unexplored right passageway. “What if Eric went down there? I can’t leave him!”

  “He’s probably dead!” the dwarf shouted at him.

  “You don’t know that!”

  “Well wherever he is, he doesn’t have a damn dragon after him!” Simik yelled, and dragged Daniel along with him.

  They were running beside the underground ponds when they heard splashing and screams off to their right.

  “Help!” cried a familiar voice.

  Daniel lifted his crystal. “Lotan?!”

  Out in the pond, a lone figure was trying to swim to shore. Behind him, twenty-foot-long serpents were rising up like cobras, then striking viciously at the swimmer – and that was just what was visible above the water. The entire area around him boiled with activity.

  No matter how bad the situation was, it was even more disturbing because the serpents looked dead. Giant holes gaped in their sides. Sheets of flesh peeled off their bones. Ribbons of skin hung from the creatures in tatters.

  Lotan was not only trying to swim but fight them off at the same time. His wavy-bladed sword flashed above water, trying to ward off an attacker.

  “HELP HIM!” Daniel yelled as he ran into the water.

  “No – STOP!” Simik shouted. “You’ll die, too!”

  The others ignored the dwarf. Mira started shooting arrows at any monster that dared show its head above water, and Drogar flung himself after Daniel with abandon.

  “By Yart’s beard,” the dwarf cursed. He looked back nervously at the cave
rn, then waded into the water himself, battle hammer raised high overhead.

  Daniel was waist-deep when the first snake attacked him. It clamped onto his left arm, biting down with what was probably bone-crushing force –

  But his armor held. He felt a slight pressure and that was it.

  Biting attack!

  Armor reduces damage to 2%

  -4 hit points

  151/155 hit points remaining

  He jabbed his sword right through the creature’s black eye. It screamed and thrashed, then collapsed into the water.

  But as the creature slid off his blade, its eye turned from black to red, like ink draining out of a ruby.

  What?!

  He didn’t have time to wonder, though, because another two snakes took its place.

  Drogar hacked and chopped with berserker rage. His fury and grief over Vlisil’s death had finally found an outlet, and snake after snake fell beneath his ax.

  That’s not to say he didn’t get hurt. Twice the serpents managed to rip at his skin; twice he made them pay with their lives.

  Daniel was able to catch Lotan’s arm and pull him through the water. Simik grabbed the other arm, and they both dragged the droth to shore as Drogar provided them cover.

  The fish-man was horribly wounded. Bluish-silver blood poured from dozens of gashes on his body, and he was missing one of his legs below the knee. But he was still alive.

  “Where are the healing potions?” Mira cried out.

  “They’re gone,” Daniel said grimly.

  “VHAT?!” the barbarian roared as he stumbled up out of the pond, fighting off the last of the snakes.

  “Vlisil had them. They’re burned up – gone.” He looked down into Lotan’s eyes. “I’m sorry – I thought we could save you. I didn’t know it was this bad.”

  “Eric…” the droth gurgled.

  Daniel leaned over in alarm. “What about Eric? Where is he?!”

  “He’s evil…”

  Daniel’s heart froze in his chest.

  “What did you say?” he whispered.

  “He’s evil… he came here to get some… artifact… he possessed those snake things… to kill me…” Lotan looked around at the rest of the group. “He just used us to get… what he wanted…”

  And then, like the goblin, Lotan’s whole body relaxed… and he was gone.

  Daniel felt panic rising in his chest.

  No! he wanted to scream. NO, you’ve got it wrong – there’s got to be a mistake –

  He looked up at the others, trying to gauge their reactions.

  Mira was horrified. She took an involuntary step backwards and covered her mouth with one hand.

  Drogar was enraged. His features twisted into an inhuman mask of hatred.

  But Simik… Simik looked oddly resigned. Peaceful, even.

  And that was when Daniel noticed the dwarf was holding his side. Blood poured down his leg onto the ground.

  “…Simik?!”

  “The three of you need to go,” the dwarf said calmly. “One of them got me in the water… I’m not going to make it.”

  “NO!” Daniel screamed, unable to believe this was happening.

  Though he knew Lotan and Vlisik weren’t really gone – they would respawn after twelve hours, after all – their deaths had been traumatic enough.

  But Simik…

  …once he was dead, he was gone.

  Behind them, the high-pitched/rumbling roar echoed deafeningly throughout the caverns, and the ground began to shake.

  The dwarf collapsed to his knees. His face was pale. “Go. Or you’ll all die.”

  “Drogar, pick him up!” Daniel shouted.

  The barbarian stooped and scooped up the dwarf in his arms.

  “You fools… no…” the dwarf said weakly.

  “RUN!” Daniel screamed, and he, Mira, and Drogar ran through the empty halls of the dwarf city with certain death close behind them.

  67

  They emerged from the cave and staggered down the stone steps, past the crystalline pool, and out onto the grassy hill. At least the dragon wasn’t still following them. Its roars had ceased, and there was no sign of it in the mouth of the cave.

  The pack horses whinnied and shied away as Drogar lay the dwarf down on the grass, limp as a rag doll.

  Daniel dropped down next to him. “Simik?”

  The dwarf turned his head weakly, and his eyes found the jeweled scabbard attached to Daniel’s belt. “Remember your promise, boy.”

  Daniel’s vision blurred, and he wiped away tears. “Yes. I’ll return it, I promise.”

  “And tell other dwarves about the statues we found…”

  “Yes. I will.”

  “Tell them they have to come… retrieve them…”

  “Of course.”

  “Tell them that I said you could help… if you want…”

  Daniel’s throat closed up. “I will. I’ll help.”

  “Tell them Simik of Val sent you… son of Hroth, grandson of Utlik, great-grandson of Svragnar… they will know then… that you are to be trusted…”

  Simik of Val… son of Hroth, grandson of Utlik, great-grandson of Svragnar, Daniel repeated silently, burning the words into his mind.

  Simik smiled as he closed his eyes. “At least… I got to see them… before…”

  And then he was gone, too.

  Daniel burst into tears. He couldn’t help himself. He knew it was stupid, that the dwarf was just a part of the game, that he wasn’t even real –

  But it hurt like hell all the same.

  “YOU!” the barbarian roared, pointing a bloody finger at Daniel.

  He looked up in surprise. “What?”

  “YOU brought that traitor here!” Drogar said, pulling his ax threateningly off his back. “Did you KNOW?! Did you KNOW vhat he came here to do?!”

  “I didn’t know anything!” Daniel shouted angrily. “I had no idea – ”

  “Guys?” Mira interrupted. “No time for that right now.”

  They both looked over at her at the same time.

  She was staring up the cave, her bow and arrow drawn.

  They both turned – and saw the dragon’s head emerge like a black snake from a rabbit hole.

  It stared at them malevolently, wincing in the bright sunlight – and then it roared its rumbling scream.

  The horses bucked in terror and reared up on their hind legs. The only thing that kept them from running away was their reins were tied to spikes in the ground.

  The dragon stumbled out of the cave and tumbled down into the pool of water – although it was so huge, it was more accurate to say it covered the pool rather than fell into it. It extricated itself, then staggered onto the grassy slope where it stretched its wings to their full extent – the same wingspan as a jet plane’s back in the real world. Then it shrieked again.

  “Okay… we’ve got a tank and two damage dealers,” Daniel said in a quiet voice, as though not wanting the dragon to overhear, “but no healer – ”

  “You can’t even be serious right now,” Mira said. “That thing has a million hit points.”

  “If we run, it can fly,” Daniel said. “We’re dead no matter what. I don’t know about you guys, but after all the crap we’ve been through today, I want to go down fighting.”

  “Hell yah,” the barbarian agreed.

  Mira sighed. “Alright… as long as you’re going to be insane, I guess I’ll be insane, too.”

  The dragon suddenly reared back its head and opened its mouth. A spark of flame appeared in the back of its throat.

  “RUN!” Daniel shouted.

  They scattered in three different directions.

  A split second later the liquid fire rained down and set the grass ablaze.

  Mira shot arrows as she ran.

  “Drogar,” Daniel shouted, “go around to the left! Try to get behind it and up under the belly – I’m thinking that’s the only place we can hurt it! Mira, try to distract it!”

&nbs
p; The dragon ignored the arrows and thudded down the grassy slope toward the horses.

  The animals were terrified. Several of them actually pulled free of the stakes in the ground and fled – but not before they were engulfed in flames.

  Then the dragon lunged down at the nearest horse, its mouth open wide.

  The horse gave a pitiful scream as the dragon crunched and cracked its bones, then gobbled it down in several meaty bites.

  “Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick,” Mira muttered as she kept firing arrows uselessly into the monster’s hide.

  Daniel came at the beast from the rear. Amazingly, the loudest sound from his armor was the crunch of pebbles underfoot and the grass slapping against the metal greaves on his shins.

  The dragon was apparently too occupied with its meal to notice or care. It chomped down on another terrified horse and swallowed it in three gulps.

  Daniel got closer than he would have thought possible. He could see individual coins and jewels winking in the sunlight, wedged deep between its black scales. And its belly, pale yellow like a crocodile’s, now only twenty feet away. If he could only reach it and plunge in his sword, he might be able to do some real damage –

  And then he found out the dragon had been watching him the entire time.

  The tail slid across the grass, big as an oak tree and fast as a greyhound.

  WHAM!

  The impact sent him sprawling across the hillside.

  Thanks to the armor the blow didn’t hurt too much, but it was disorienting as hell.

  Blunt force attack!

  Armor reduces damage to 2%

  -8 hit points

  147/155 hit points remaining

  He tried to scramble to his feet –

  “DANIEL!” Mira screamed.

  He looked over his shoulder.

  The dragon’s head was high in the air above him. Its mouth was open, and fire sparked in its throat.

  Daniel winced, covered his head, and hoped Vlisil had been right – that it wouldn’t hurt after the first couple of seconds.

  Suddenly there was a series of unearthly screams unlike anything he had ever heard before.