Raising Allies

by Sarah Lin

  At that moment Gharavi cantered up next to them, still controlling her horse despite all the chaos. She glanced at Meara grimly. "We have to slow him down, somehow."

  "I still have the bait, but there's no way I can throw that far. Can you?" Meara extended it, and after a moment's hesitation, Gharavi took it from her.

  "I suppose I have no choice but to try." Gharavi cast a spell of light in a sphere around the clay sphere, then affixed it to the front of her staff. She raised it to her shoulder, spent a long time sighting carefully after the escaping undead, then fired.

  The bolt of magic arced out, a glowing streak that soon disappeared under the desert sun. Had it reached its location? Meara saw the undead seem to shift strangely, yet no shardwings emerged to attack them. Of course not - it wasn't as though there were endless monsters roaming the desert, especially not relatively close to Manascas.

  Yet just as she began to fear that her efforts had been for nothing, she saw a shimmer in the air. Not just one shardwing, but two. Watching from a distance it seemed to take painfully long for them to arrive, but eventually they descended on the line of undead in the distance.

  That had to slow down their progress. Meara turned back to Bloodwraith and found that he was riding toward them, Izzy on his back carrying several shining objects. Then they had been artifacts. But how many had Raigar managed to collect before they stopped him?

  In the distance, Meara saw a beam of light shoot out and pierce the clouds above. It encompassed both shardwings and their reflective plates did nothing to stop the beam of solid destruction. With both of them consumed in the single shot, Raigar and his horde set out again.

  Toward the Return Point.

  ~ ~ ~

  As they rode, Bloodwraith moved his horse behind the others and ordered Izilthor to frighten them. With her teeth snapping ominously behind them, the horses sprinted even faster. They were giving everything they had, mouths beginning to froth, and Bloodwraith knew that they would probably die from the run. But that was a tolerable sacrifice if it meant Raigar couldn't reach his destination.

  Meanwhile, he finally had a moment to look over the artifacts that he had snatched up before sprinting back to the horse. Just as he'd feared, the cache contained even more terrible artifacts. Two of them were familiar: a Phoenix Amulet and a Wand of Undead Dominion. He had hoped for a teleportation artifact that would let them jump ahead of Raigar, but no such luck. It was only the familiar two and a sapphire sphere that he looked at more carefully.

  [Sphere of Enhancement

  Single-use item. When used, the Sphere of Enhancement will significantly improve several of the user's most-used skills. Effects vary between skills but will cause improvements independent of skill level. This effect is instantaneous and can be used even through other restrictions.

  WARNING: This bonus item was placed by AdventureCorp for player use only. It works by interfacing with the core game system, and as such, would have fatal effects on anyone lacking it. Though it has been configured so that native inhabitants will not be able to find or observe it, attempting to have allies use this item is not recommended.

  Rarity: Legendary]

  Yet another incredible item. As Bloodwraith stared down at it, he felt a twinge of satisfaction that a theory was confirmed: Raigar was not uniquely gifted at discovering legendary artifacts, they had been placed there for him by the box gods. That fit perfectly with their general goal of making the experience easier.

  But if so, why had Bloodwraith discovered no such gifts? It occurred to him that perhaps second lives were treated differently, given what his Amulet of Reincarnation said about the rules changing. There was also the question of why Raigar hadn't used all these artifacts against the Master Lich - perhaps he had hidden them away because he knew they wouldn't come with him for his second life.

  Those were all irrelevant theories for now, especially if Raigar reached his location. Unfortunately, it looked as though the shardwings had delayed him but hadn't dealt significant damage. His small horde of undead had nearly reached the spire of stone that must be the Return Point.

  Though Bloodwraith wanted to analyze it further, he knew that he needed to plan for the coming conflict. Raigar still had the Scepter of Annihilation, plus he had taken at least one artifact before the blast had knocked him away. Then he had one more trick that could be almost anything.

  As they rode forward, Bloodwraith stared down at the artifacts in his hands and realized what he needed to do.

  They nearly caught up with Raigar as they approached the looming spire, but not close enough. From their distance, Bloodwraith could just see Raigar waving his Wand of Undead Dominion, commanding the undead to turn and face them.

  Though Gharavi tried to take a shot, her bolt of lightning missed. Raigar turned long enough to release another blast from the Scepter of Annihilation, too wild to strike them, but forcing Gharavi's horse to rear back and throw off her aim. That bought him time to run up the side of the spire.

  For a moment it looked as though he was sprinting directly toward a rock wall, but another box proved otherwise. This one clung to a specific point in his vision, with a glowing red arrow pointing toward the spire.

  [Return Point

  Though AdventureCorp encourages all users to complete their adventures to the natural ending location, Return Points are provided in case of emergencies. Accessing the Return Point is likely to permanently end the current set of quests, but should be done if necessary and especially if system notifications have recommended it. AdventureCorp will partially refund the cost of the journey, prorated by resources spent.]

  Then they were finally here. Part of the rock wall opened seamlessly, revealing a blue glow beyond, and Raigar plunged inside before they could stop him. The rocks closed up after him and for a moment Bloodwraith felt despair.

  "The spell needs time to charge!" Gharavi moved her horse alongside his, shouting between them. "But I can already feel it! You might be the only one who can get in - go!"

  The horse beneath him stumbled and nearly fell, having spent itself in the final run. Bloodwraith leapt off it and Izilthor hopped off his back in turn. Gharavi stayed on her horse, drawing her staff and preparing to fire from a distance, but Danniah and Meara came up beside him and struggled off theirs.

  "We have to push through." Meara stared toward the spire entrance grimly. "Unless you're holding back a destructive artifact on us, we need to throw ourselves into the horde to get you there."

  Though he disliked the idea, he agreed that they didn't have a choice. Bloodwraith gestured for them to follow him and they charged into the mass of undead that stood between them and the Return Point.

  At first the charge seemed to go well. He began with an empowered Shout of Rage that sent most of the undead tumbling out of their path, and Gharavi released bolts of lightning to knock away those that tried to fill the gap. But there were simply too many, and soon they were struggling into a brutal melee.

  The ex-mage ghoul emerged on a nearby pillar of rock and began hurling spells at Gharavi, forcing her to retreat. Apparently Raigar had found some way to restore his mana, no doubt another artifact. Though Bloodwraith wanted to stop the mage, he forced himself to press on, knocking more undead out of the way with sheer physical force.

  It worked with the lesser undead, but suddenly he found himself tackled by a large ghoul he recognized at the ex-warrior. Though it had been severely damaged in all the fighting, it managed to endure his elbow to the face without letting go.

  Danniah slammed her shield into it, though it only staggered a short distance away. When Bloodwraith rose and started to unhook his sword, she gestured wildly at him. "Go, go!"

  He knew it was the correct decision, so he plunged forward, but he couldn't help looking behind him as he neared the rock face. The ex-warrior attacked Danniah ferociously and she was soon surrounded. Izilthor attacked at their flanks, drawing some of them away, and Meara distracted more by walking into the horde, but th
ere were still too many.

  When Bloodwraith neared the rock, it retreated so that he could enter. As he rushed through, he looked back one more time... and saw Danniah fall. Undead swarmed her from all sides, slashing and tearing.

  For a moment, he started to turn back. The stone door remained open, so there was nothing stopping him. Yet he found himself going forward to face Raigar, desperately hoping that he wasn't making a mistake. Or worse, a correct decision that he would never be able to forgive himself for.

  "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Raigar stared at him with a desperate look, but Bloodwraith ignored him, staring at the chamber itself.

  The room was a perfect half-sphere, all the walls impossibly smooth. Only one thing broke the unchanging floor: a ring of steel with blue light glowing within. Though the steel was as fine as any he'd ever seen, there was something unnaturally perfect about it, like it was the work not of a mage but of a soulless process. Strange blocky characters ran along the ring like no language he had ever seen, but the box that appeared was unambiguous.

  [Return Point: 86% charged]

  Bloodwraith hurled himself to the side a moment later, barely avoiding the beam of destruction. As he dropped into a roll, he noted that the beam had done no damage at all to the smooth wall. Raigar kept the Scepter of Annihilation pointed at him, eyes hard as Bloodwraith got back to his feet.

  "Not trying to steal my body anymore?"

  "You stole it first! And no, fuck this shit! I'll make them fix whatever is wrong with this run and give me a new character!"

  "Is that really all this is to you? There's no higher purpose?"

  "Higher purpose?" For a moment Raigar just stared at him, then he laughed. "What higher purpose could there be than escaping our shitstain of a world?"

  "Do you me-" He was cut off when Raigar laughed mockingly.

  "No, shut up. I was just buying time until the scepter recharged. I'm not gonna miss this time."

  Bloodwraith laughed back, pouring as much derision into his voice as he could. "You can't count without boxes to keep track, can you? The previous shot was your last. 0/50 charges."

  For a moment, Raigar stared at him in shock. That was enough for Bloodwraith to throw out a hand, a burst of force sending the scepter bouncing across the room, its box still displaying [1/50].

  Though Raigar sprinted for it, Bloodwraith had been anticipating exactly that. He intercepted him with his sword sweeping overhead, catching his opponent in the shoulder and slamming him to the ground. As Raigar crashed against the floor, Bloodwraith didn't let up, striking repeatedly.

  Letting out a cry, Raigar began to fling spells in all directions, but Bloodwraith didn't pull back, just dodged as best he could. His armor could resist the indirect shots, and he knew that he was winning. Even enhanced by the golden-red light, Raigar's bones couldn't endure under such a brutal assault. They started to crack and he only managed to escape by shooting a fireball into the ground, the blast sending him skating across the floor.

  Since Raigar had skidded away from the scepter, Bloodwraith ignored him. He was gasping for breath and the boxes only reinforced how low his Stamina was. Though he wanted to go after Raigar to finish him off or go help Danniah and the others, he forced himself to walk up to the Return Point.

  "Enough of this, boxes! I don't need to go back!"

  [Deactivate use of Return Point?

  Y/N]

  "Yes! Deacti-" Raigar tackled him from the side, and worse, he began draining life with both hands.

  Using the last of his stamina, Bloodwraith desperately kicked him away before he lost his strength. Raigar flew back several steps and struggled to get up, but Bloodwraith wasn't able to chase him. It took all he had just to reach into his bag and find one of Meara's potions. With its strength flowing through him, he managed to pull himself back to his feet.

  "A potion?" Raigar smirked and held his hand in front of him. "I have a better trump card."

  Too late, Bloodwraith realized that it was another Sphere of Enhancement. It shattered and the power flowed into Raigar, lifting his body slightly into the air. He gave an exultant cry, then landed and pushed off the floor.

  Pain shot through Bloodwraith's chest and then he was slamming into the opposite wall of the chamber. Only as he rose to his hands and knees did he realize that Raigar had punched him. When he tried to check his opponent's box, he only caught a glimpse of significantly improved physical skills before Raigar crossed the distance between them again.

  Raigar's boot hit his chest and Bloodwraith heard something crack before he slammed against the wall again. Yet though Raigar kicked away his sword and began beating him, he never went for a fatal attack. Only when Bloodwraith was beaten within an inch of his life did Raigar drag him back toward the center.

  "Return Point, start charging again!" Once it responded, Raigar dragged him toward the entrance, chuckling. "You expected me to kill you? No, I figured out that you stole the Phoenix Amulet from my stash. So instead, I'll just keep you disabled until I can get out of this place."

  Struggling would be useless, so Bloodwraith let himself be dragged toward the entrance. There Raigar threw him onto his stomach, then came down with a knee on his back and grabbed his head, forcing him to look up toward the battle outside.

  "While we wait, how about we watch your friends die? Looks like the little one is already dead, and the others won't be long. You were always going to fail. You might think you're smart, but you have no idea what you're doing. I've been playing these games since I was a child. I am better at this than you!"

  There was a swarm of undead surrounding where Danniah had fallen, but Bloodwraith saw something else. If his companions had continued to be swarmed as they had been before, they would already be dead. He began to chuckle, and Raigar punched him in the neck.

  "Oh no, you're not going to bluff me again."

  Bloodwraith kept laughing.

  Chapter 29

  For a moment, Meara had truly believed that they were all going to die in front of her. Could she just stand there, watching them die? She longed to do something, yet there were blades and claws passing through her body constantly - dropping her detachment would mean instant death for her as well.

  Would that be better than living with all the rest of them dead?

  Yet then she started to notice it: the battle around them was beginning to shift, the undead pulling away. Meara glanced to Gharavi and saw her nod, so she knew that it had worked. They could still do this, unless Bloodwraith failed to keep Raigar from entering the Return Point. If that had happened, she felt certain that she would have felt it.

  To her surprise, the two of them appeared in the entrance. Bloodwraith's armor was dripping blood, and though Raigar looked damaged, he was clearly in control. He pinned Bloodwraith down and began to mock him, not realizing what was happening.

  Then there was a ringing tone and the mob of undead swarming Danniah's body erupted in a pillar of fire.

  Danniah floated in the pillar, the Phoenix Amulet burning around her neck before it dissolved. Light seemed to burst from within her armor, the slit on her helm glowing red-gold. When she returned to the ground, for a moment she stared down at her hands, but when an undead tried to attack her, she smashed it to pieces with a swing of her mace. Izilthor rushed up to her and wrapped her arms around her neck, screeching.

  Within the spire Raigar started to panic. "To me!" He gestured wildly at the undead, urging them back. "Block the entrance! Stop them!"

  Though the remaining undead rushed toward the entrance, Raigar realized too late what they were actually doing. From her position in back, Gharavi raised the Wand of Undead Dominion and commanded them to attack.

  They collided with Raigar from all sides, driving him off of Bloodwraith and back into the chamber. Meara rushed after them alongside Danniah, who smashed the last undead who remained under Raigar's control. Gharavi caught up to them as well, but just when they were about to enter, two ghouls leapt into their
path. One hefted a large sword and the other waved a staff and generated a wall of flame.

  "Those two..." Gharavi shook her head. "I can't control them. They're stronger than the others."

  Danniah stepped up and took a swing, but the ex-fighter flailed his blade at her wildly. She winced and fell back. "Their equipment is really good, I don't think..."

  "Then I'll handle this." Meara reached into her cloak and felt the sapphire sphere Bloodwraith had given her, then crushed it.

  For a moment she lost herself completely as power flooded her. Not mana or strength as her world understood it, but the raw power of the Outsiders' system. It rushed into her, her entire body burning as it searched for conventional skills to improve and found nothing. Though Meara nearly dissolved in the rush of power, she clung to the fragment of the system that had been implanted within her and forced its flow to obey her.

  It rushed into the skills she had obtained, tearing open the system that had been meant for a simple merchant girl. She felt something change within her and nearly tumbled into the form of a warrior, but she struggled away from that outcome, pushing the power into skills that were familiar to her.

  Especially Steal.

  When Meara returned to the world, only a moment had passed. They were still blocked off from the entrance, with the wall of flame and the two ghouls blocking their path. Yet that no longer seemed such an obstacle.

  Meara reached out and felt both ghouls' inventories. Though she struggled to reach into them, they were mindless undead who could not resist her. When she broke through, she saw their equipment represented with boxes that must be like what Bloodwraith saw, each item resting like a card in its slot.

  So she dragged those cards out.

  Suddenly the two ghouls stood separately from their equipment, which hung in the air for a moment before falling into a pile. They reacted too slowly, trying to attack with just their bodies, but that wasn't enough. Without their equipment, they were taken apart in seconds and then the four of them pushed into the central chamber.