Exalted Realms Online- Harbinger of Chaos

by Jamie O'Leary

  “This is the unlikeliest group of heroes I’ve ever seen,” sighed Chezzy. “And I’m one of them.”

  The sphere of light darted past them, illuminating the dark corridor. There were cells built into the walls, no bigger than enough for a dwarf, gnome, or child. Chezzy didn’t want to think about it. A few still had the bones of their ancient prisoners shackled to the walls. It had to have been more than 100 years since they were sentenced to die in those cages. The real story would be more than what the group assumed:

  When Radu took over the mountain, he chased the dwarven community out. These were the prisoners left behind during their mass exodus from the mountain. Unfortunate, yes, but the dwarves of this mountain couldn’t be held culpable because they were fleeing in terror themselves. Radu caused an eruption that flooded the halls and filled up others. Entire families were killed. Radu commanded the power of the mountain with the Fire Crest, which is something he would never give up without a fight.

  Josie continued to lead the way. She had her knives drawn and was ready for anything. After walking for a bit, they came to another door leading out of the corridor. The light sphere waited for them. Chezzy picked it up.

  The next room was a large chamber. The floor was lava, oozing from crevices underneath. Several boulders jutted from their pools. The group looked ahead and saw another stone bridge, broken into several pieces. It was the only way across.

  “Chezzy!” cried Josie. “Do you have any magic for this?”

  Chezzy pulled out his spellbook and frantically searched for an ice spell. He was crumpling under the heat in this room.

  “Nectiro omenus isis,” he chanted. Nothing.

  “Berimos neveda cryos.” Again, nothing.

  “We can make this bridge,” said Nurox after examining it.

  “Nice try, Chezzy,” said Josie.

  “I don’t know what happened,” Chezzy said gauchely.

  The bridge was held up as the lava flowed around their bases below. Each piece still looked stable enough to cross.

  “Hope you boys can jump,” Josie said as she took a running leap off the first part of the bridge, flipping in the air and landing on the second part of the bridge.

  She gave a thumbs up. “No problem.”

  Darkwind went next and made the jump with little effort. Then Nurox, who had a few false starts, as he confessed that he was ‘not good at jumping’. He ran and as his foot left the platform, he winced. He curled up his legs in mid-jump, as if he got away from the heat of the lava beneath them. His feet landed squarely on the stone platform. He stood next to Josie and Darkwind.

  Finally, Chezzy. He had no agility and he was not confident that he could make the first jump, let alone the other jumps left in the bridge.

  “I’ll catch you,” said Nurox.

  Chezzy took a deep breath and ran. His feet left the rock and he felt himself soar for a moment before he realized he was going to fall short of the landing. He stretched his arms out. Nurox caught him by the forearm and swung him up onto the platform they were standing on. “Thanks,” said Chezzy, relieved that he hadn’t plummeted into the fiery abyss below. The other jumps were not as far apart, and they easily made it the rest of the way across.

  Josie suddenly noticed something twinkling in the corner of her eye. There was a treasure chest sitting in the corner of the room. The only way to get to it was walk along a small ledge that wrapped around the far back wall of the room.

  “Hold on, boys. I’ll be right back,” she said.

  “No, wait, Josie!” cried Nurox, but she was already making her way to the ledge. One misstep and she would be toast. She shuffled across the ledge, her body pressed close against the hot, rocky wall. Steam rose up from the pool of magma behind her. Her fingers gripped the craggy face of the wall as she guided herself along. The rest of the party watched her expertly navigate the ledge.

  She got to the treasure chest and the others could hardly contain their anticipation. Surely such a difficult spot to put a treasure chest must have something amazing inside!

  The chest was small and made of rock, and had small gemstones embedded it in, which was the twinkling that Josie saw. She opened the chest and inside was a beautiful necklace. It was made of silver and at the end of it was a golden gem that glowed like a fireball. Josie clutched the jewelry in her hand and made her way back to the group.

  “What did you get?” Nurox asked Josie.

  “I don’t know, but it’s beautiful,” she replied, holding up the necklace for all of them to see.

  “The Dragon’s Eye!” gasped Chezzy. “You found the Dragon’s Eye. It’s a magical necklace that will give its wearer the ability to shoot fireballs.”

  “Sounds pretty sweet,” Josie said.

  “Not gonna lie,” said Chezzy. “Totally jealous, by the way.”

  “Alright, let’s go, everyone. I don’t want to stick around this place for too long,” said Darkwind.

  They collected themselves and pressed on through the door in front of them.

  The door creaked open and the group walked through. It was darker and quieter in this large corridor. “Shh, listen,” said Chezzy.

  It was faint, but it sounded like chanting coming through the walls. Darkwind raised a brow as he heard it. “We’re gonna follow that sound.”

  As they crept through the hallway, the chanting grew louder.

  The next room was also mammoth in size, with high stone pillars that seemed to hold the mountain up. There was no lava in this room, and the group took a reprieve from the extreme heat. The chanting was close now. “Mm baa turaa… Mm baa turaa…”

  Josie doled out medicinal herbs to help everyone regain their strength. They all had a feeling that there was going to be quite a fight up ahead.

  Nurox got up.

  “Where are you going?” asked Darkwind.

  “I want to search the room for any treasure. You never know what we might find that could help us,” said Nurox.

  “Don’t set off any traps,” Darkwind replied as Nurox wandered off.

  Chezzy studied his spellbook for ice spells. He slammed the book shut and exclaimed, “That’s it!”

  He pointed his fingers at one of the pillars. “Abraxis metos cryos!”

  A blue glow appeared around his fingertips and suddenly a flash of white and the pillar was covered in a sheet of ice. “I’m ready.”

  Darkwind nodded.

  “Nurox, let’s go,” Josie called out. There was no answer. “Nurox!”

  “Oh, great,” said Darkwind, rolling his eyes.

  “We have to find him,” Josie said.

  “Do we though?” said Darkwind.

  Josie glared at Darkwind.

  The three of them split up to search for Nurox.

  ***

  The Basilisk King sat on his throne, which was a golden seat mounted with four flames, one in each corner, and was large enough to fit a garrison of troops. In front of the throne was a carpet of magma stretching from the throne’s base to the entrance of the throne room. He was reptilian in appearance and his eyes were the color of copper, which pierced into the souls of each of his victims, whom he was known to devour. He wore dark-colored robes. When his hood was up, his sharp profile made for a fearsome silhouette (not exactly someone you’d want to trifle with). He held a scepter in one hand, and he clutched the Fire Crest in the other. He was surrounded by his disciples, flame demons that had taken on grotesque human forms. They followed the Basilisk King because he held the Fire Crest, and its power over the fire demons was evident.

  “Hear me, and hear my decree! I want to expand my mountain over these lands, to the East, to the sea!” he bellowed. He held up the Fire Crest and all the minions bowed before him.

  ***

  “Nurox!” Darkwind and the others called out. Damn that fool. They would never get out of there now. “Nurox, when I find you, I’m going to kill you,” Darkwind muttered to himself.
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br />   The side of the room that Darkwind searched revealed a wall with three tunnels. Even Nurox couldn’t be stupid enough to venture down one of these paths alone. Or could he? “Josie, Chezzy, over here!” Darkwind called out.

  “Well, if he did go down one of these, and each of us take a tunnel, one of us is bound to find him, right?” proposed Josie.

  “It’s probably not a good idea to split up,” said Chezzy. “Strength in numbers.”

  “I normally would disagree,” Darkwind said. “But in this case, I happen to agree with Chezzy.”

  “What do you have against Nurox anyway?” snapped Josie.

  “He’s incompetent and useless. He’s done nothing but drag us down since we got stuck together. Now he’s wandered off like a child and we’re left having to babysit him?! I can’t believe I agreed to do this stupid quest with you.”

  “Hey, guys. I found a path.” It was Nurox. He was standing behind them.

  Darkwind was angry.

  “How long were you standing there?” Josie asked.

  “Not long,” replied Nurox.

  “Long enough to hear Darkwind call you incompetent and useless?” suggested Chezzy. Darkwind didn’t care.

  Nurox made a face. He knew that Darkwind was giving him a hard time, and for some reason, he took it. He turned to Josie.

  “I just followed the chants,” he smiled.

  “Let’s hurry up and finish this,” Josie said. The others nodded in agreement.

  They followed Chezzy to the back of the room where he’d found a different tunnel. The chants were much louder now. They entered the tunnel.

  Out of nowhere a pair of flame wraiths appeared. They were apparitions wreathed in flames, and they had sharp fangs that could tear into your flesh and leave you on fire and helpless. One shrieked out as it flew in to attack Nurox, who swung his sword and missed as its bony, flaming hands reached out for him. These things were creepy. The other tried to attack Josie. She threw a pair of daggers at it, but they went right through it. Oh shit! Josie rolled out of the way of its attack, and Darkwind chased it down.

  He swung his sword wildly at the creature, which seemed to dance around Helga’s edge. Darkwind was getting winded. “Um, a little help would be nice,” he said as he fended off the first flame wraith.

  The other one was about to attack Darkwind when a blast knocked both the wraiths away. It looked like a plume of steam and when it cleared, the wraiths were encased in ice. Chezzy walked up. “I just wanted you to know that I could have also got you,” he said nonchalantly to Darkwind.

  “But you didn’t,” said Darkwind. “Not that it would have worked against my high level cold protection.”

  Chezzy smiled. The others walked up and they regrouped. “Good thing Chezzy was here, eh, Darkwind?” mocked Nurox.

  They continued down the tunnel, which opened into the throne room. The chanting echoed loud now. The chants died down and then the Basilisk King spoke, “I, the Basilisk King, command you to destroy the countryside and make way for my mountain!” The chants began again.

  “So that’s his plan is it?” Josie said.

  They crept forward and snuck into the throne room behind the throngs of followers. There must’ve been over a hundred of them in this room, let alone how many other monsters were in this place.

  “STOP!” cried the Basilisk King. “Intruders have come for my Fire Crest! Destroy them!”

  The Basilisk King’s small army of followers followed their master’s orders and attacked Darkwind and the others.

  Nurox bashed in skulls and cut off limbs, Josie slung her daggers, taking out eyes and even muscles to incapacitate her targets. Chezzy fired off his powerful ice spell (that he now had no problem casting) to fend off wave after wave of enemy. Darkwind was fighting off one after another. At one point, he had a pile of enemies on him that he slashed his way through, emerging victorious. Surprisingly, he was burnt very little, a singe of hair here and there, but otherwise okay.

  With his followers gone, the Basilisk King unfurled from his throne. He dropped his robes and scepter and put the Fire Crest around his neck. He was fuming that this group just annihilated his cohorts so easily. Not even one of them had fallen. He began to grow until he was four times his size and now stood forty feet tall! He bellowed and shook the throne room. “You will all die!”

  The Basilisk King stomped around the room, casting fire spells at the group, who ran around him so as to not give him any easy target.

  “I got this,” said Darkwind. He ran toward the Basilisk King’s massive feet. He sliced at his heels, which only incensed the beast, whose sights were clearly on Darkwind. He tried stomping on him, only this time his stomps broke the floor open to reveal lava flowing underneath.

  “I have an idea,” said Josie to Nurox and Chezzy.

  “Keep him occupied, Darkwind,” Josie said.

  “Got that covered,” replied Darkwind as he dodged the Basilisk King while managing not to fall into any pools of lava.

  “Okay, do we understand?” Josie asked. Nurox and Chezzy nodded.

  “Darkwind, get him to break that floor,” she said.

  “Got it,” Darkwind said. He ran underneath the Basilisk King and struck him from below, but his belly was armored with scales that even Helga couldn’t pierce.

  The Basilisk King raised his leg and stomped down on Darkwind, who rolled out of the way. By now, the Basilisk King was trapped in the center, on an island surrounded by fire.

  “We’ve got him now,” Josie said. “Chezz, go!”

  Chezzy fired off his ice spell, which the Basilisk tried deflecting. His ice spell had weakened the Basilisk King, but not enough.

  “Oh, guys I forgot to tell you, I found this cool sword back there,” said Nurox. He pulled out the Ice Brigand, an exquisite sword that could harm fire creatures.

  “What are you waiting for?” said Darkwind, running away with the Basilisk King hot on his tail.

  Nurox wielded the Ice Brigand and charged the Basilisk King.

  “Let’s see what you’ve got,” the Basilisk King said before going limp. Nurox had planted the sword in his throat. It was lodged where even he couldn’t retrieve it. Nurox dropped and snagged the Fire Crest, and returned it to Josie. The Basilisk King tried to screech. A sheet of ice began to form around his body. This was magical ice that couldn’t melt even in the heat of this mountain.

  The group left the throne room and made their way back to the cavern entrance. The heat didn’t feel as intense anymore. Josie thought it was because they had the Fire Crest. Chezzy even created small clouds to rain on each of them to keep them cool. As they reached the entrance, they saw a familiar face.

  “By the gods, you made it. No one’s ever made it before,” said Myrak. “The Fire Crest, you got it?” he asked with anticipation.

  “We did, old man,” said Darkwind. “We did indeed.”

  “I must have it. I need it appease the fire gods of my village and if not they will destroy all the crops,” Myrak revealed.

  “We’ll help you,” said Josie. “But not until we have all four crests.”

  “To be honest, I didn’t think you’d make it out of the mountain,” he told them. “It looks like your new friend was good luck.”

  “Then it looks like I’ll too be accompanying you on your quest,” said Myrak.

  “What?!” gasped Darkwind. “You can’t be serious. Look you wanted my help, but this is too much. Do you have any idea how much he’ll slow us down?”

  “Slow you down?” said Myrak. He instantly disappeared and reappeared behind Darkwind. “Like that?”

  Darkwind jumped back. “Okay, I see your point.”

  “What kind of magic do you practice?” asked Chezzy.

  “Oh, all kinds really,” replied Myrak. “I used to be forest mage as a child, then found the red arts interesting, then I discovered blue magic and was going to study with the mountain mages before they unfort
unately fell under the spell of the Basilisk King and the Fire Crest. What about you?”

  “Black magic mostly, but I’ve dabbled in most of the colors. I studied under the forest mages as well, although much later than you.”

  “Where to next?” asked Nurox.

  “We need to get the Earth Crest, but I have no idea where to start,” Josie said.

  “I say we start by finding a nice hot meal and a warm bed,” said Darkwind.

  “That sounds great to me,” said Chezzy.

  They headed down the mountain trail and back into the foothills that led back west towards Mevalon and the other western kingdoms.

  The group had to set up camp once in the foothills, and they were confident that they wouldn’t be attacked, as the recent volcanic activity from the mountain likely scared off any wildlife or monsters in the area.

  “Darkwind?” asked Nurox. “Do you really think I’m useless?”

  “No,” said Darkwind reassuringly. “I was angry that you took off like that and endangered the rest of us. You did great back there. Got lucky you found the ice sword, really, but you did good. You did good.”

  Nurox was glad to hear this come straight from his mouth, and he could never deny saying that just now. “Thanks,” he replied.

  The night went on without incident and they continued their quest. It took nearly the rest of the next day to get back to civilization, and they could see the urban peaks of Mevalon in the distance.

  “With all due respect, you guys,” Darkwind began, “I need to call it quits here. It’s nothing against any of you. I know I’ve been a dick to most, ahem, all of you, and while I think we make a great team, I need to find my destiny, and it ain’t this.”

  “C’mon, Darkwind,” pleaded Josie. “We need you. Can’t you think about someone other than yourself for once?”

  “I did. Then I made the decision to leave the group.”

  “Well, that’s just dandy,” Myrak chimed in. “What if your destiny lies with us and not your stupid God of Chaos?”

  “I know what my destiny is, old man,” said Darkwind.

  “Go on then,” said Nurox. “Good luck.”

  Darkwind gave everyone one last look before he and Max headed west. The others stood there in disappointment and hoped that Darkwind would come to his senses and rejoin them, but they simply watched him walk away.