by James Patton
“We are too late,” Boh replied.
“Its time to run Boh. Ahead the trail splits, go right and be quick about it.” She took control and ordered Boh onwards as she shoved the girl to get her moving. It took very little cajoling, and both of them were sprinting for the trail ahead.
The sheer number of drakes charging down the road in a chaotic stampede was way more than the girl had said. By the numbers alone they could crush Crosspointe, and who knows if Haase could stand up against them.
Haase and Crosspointe both had a superior fighting force, but not the numbers to make a difference. She should have heeded Boh’s warning earlier, but in her arrogance, she had assumed the girl was overestimating the numbers. In a twist of irony, Boh had underestimated the count.
Above the stampede were thousands of jacks circled and dove into the mass of beasts coming this way. The jacks could kill hundreds, maybe even thousands, and it still would not matter. She could see trees falling in the far distance as the big beasts plowed through whatever was in their way.
The amount of pure chaos was overwhelming. The pixie in her fed on the chaos, filled her reserves and then some. Her magic was inverted, which just meant she could only affect herself with Chaotic magic. She could fly, grow stronger, move faster, and even change her appearance.
Her eyes burned red as the Chaotic energy from the incoming army kept recharging her reserves and kept her Feedback down. It provided an unlimited amount of energy, and, the reason she stayed in this forest was to avoid this kind of chaos.
It had been a long time since she had enough pixie magic to fly. She rose off the ground following behind Boh and then augmented her strength. She could not see her eyes but knew enough about her power that they were starting to glow red.
Speeding along, she grabbed the elf and carried her. They were moving much faster than either of them could have run and widened the gap between them and the drakes.
“I thought you said you could not fly,” Boh said.
“No. I said I did not have wings, and I don’t.”
“They look like a regal horned lizard, crossed with a Viking’s fur-lined scale armor,” Boh told her.
“They’re fierce looking but are more noble and loyal than any dragon. Think of ‘em like large oversized puppies, that can tear ya head off if ya hurt them.” She told Boh and laughed.
“You really are a crazy old witch aren’t you?”
She enjoyed Boh’s company and found herself laughing more than she had in the last fifteen years. It was the girl’s sharp wit and quick temper that made her a prime target banter and poking fun. And the fact that she had fought her mischievous nature long enough.
Once they reached the cave, she put Boh down and landed. There was no way she was flying in a cave. It was too dark, and she did not feel like impaling herself on a rock formation.
“Keep going, Boh. Some of the drakes will smell us- mainly you. We needa go in as far as we can and hope they find it not worth the effort.”
Boh’s lithe figure moved ahead of her and into the cave. Aila could see the pistol drawn, but pointed down and away from both of them. The darkness engulfed them, and she ran into Boh who had stopped just inside the entrance.
She started to cast a spell. Her hand bent around the gestures with ease and summoned a small Ball Lightning. As long kept it small she could channel the spell for a while.
“Ball lightning? Isn’t that dangerous?” Boh was rubbing the tip of her ear with her free hand and looking uncomfortable around the lightning.
“Yes. Don’t touch it.” She giggled at Boh. “C’mon, this cave has another outlet that should cut down on our time and put us back on the road right outside Crosspointe.”
“Well, why didn’t you say that before, let's go. And here, use this instead. I’d rather not get zapped again.” Boh told her and handed over the Light Sphere.
“Oh, well that changes things.” She took the Sphere and lit up the area around them. “I did not wanna tell ya about it because ya don’t wanna go in here without a team, it’s dangerous. What is it ya Champions call it? A dungeon.”
“Ohhhh,” Boh said with both excitement and trepidation.
“Can you explain why Champions are so fascinated with dungeons?”
“Its simple, they usually have rare items that you cannot acquire anywhere else.”
“That’s it? Loot?” She blew out her breath flabbergasted and stamped a little foot at Boh before she started to walk off. “You know how ridiculous that is? Most of the junk you can find in places like this could be bought. Stick with Botany that’ll at least keep you fed.”
Loot! She raged, feeling her chaotic magic surging. Is that the only reason Champions explored these dark caverns?
She might have overreacted, and Boh had remained silent. Many years she had studied the Champions that came through her woods, and all of them carried an air of mystery. Every single one of them claimed they could not die, and inevitably they did something reckless and were killed. She never saw them again. It just felt like these idiots dove into depths unprepared to gather useless trinkets. It made no sense.
“I am sorry,” Boh told her.
“Oh stop it. Ya did nothin’ wrong. I am an old woman who has seen many Champions come and go. All of ya treat this life as if it were a game, and a lotta innocent blood gets spilled. Ya recklessly plow through places like these, and give nary a thought to the danger or consequence.”
“Maybe we have a different perspective on life than you do.”
“I’ma listening.”
“My father used to tell me the stories of an ancient warrior tribe who sought death in battle. They believed if they died in battle they would go to Valhalla and await the end, the final battle. It was deemed to be a great honor. So they fought fiercely in every fight to get noticed by the gods. They did not fear death, and embraced battle willingly.”
“So ya are saying ya wanna die in battle?”
“Oh god no. I am saying that there is a difference between believing and knowing something.”
“So ya believe ya will not die? Ya kind dies all the time, never to be seen again.”
“I have been to many worlds, and it may very well be that I will only get one life here. It does not mean that I am dead, but just that I no longer exist on this plane of existence.”
She was quiet for a while after that, and she had to admit the elf was much more intelligent than she seemed. Could it be that Champions existed in multiple worlds? It bothered her because it had the ring of truth to it.
“An elf hasss never been down here before. Isss sssshe ssscared?” A voice said from the darkness of the cavern they just entered. “And a pixxxxie? I thought your kind were exxxxtinct.”
“Had to be a naga.” She said sarcastically to Boh. Nagas are nasty creatures, and as cold-blooded as they get. “Boh, we gotta kill it, and quickly. They’re rarely alone and are extremely weak against lightning, don’t forget Spark if it gets close.”
She felt Boh’s shield go up because she attuned her pixie magic was to sense it. The girl was strong, but she needed a bigger library of spells to be useful. She intended to fix that but now was not the time.
The Light Sphere in her hand felt warm as she poured more magic into it lighting up a larger area. The naga hissed in surprise when it got exposed to the light, and she started giggling again.
“An Eel clan!? What is ya doing here?” This naga had a man’s upper body, and its lower half was an eel. Scales covered more than half of it, like a fish. This type of naga could absorb lightning, and use the energy it stored. “No lightning Boh, of any kind.”
“Got it.”
The naga glowed as it surged forward with its trident leading him. The thing must have engaged an ability, and her pixie magic was not fast enough to intercept the attack. Boh’s face was about to block it.
Boh
Chapter 44
Naga
As a soldier, my worst fear was shame. I fought because
I feared the shame of letting my fellow soldier down. I fought because I feared the shame of being labeled a coward. I fought because I feared the shame of not pulling the trigger.
-from Unnamed Soldier, Audio Roll 0026
The naga did not frighten her nearly as much as the alpha drake had. Even with its near perfect strike at her face, she knew she could avoid it. She focused her shield and angled it to deflect the attack as she moved in the other direction.
A tine of the trident caught her leather coat, but she let it rip as she moved. The butt of her gun slammed down on the creature’s bicep, but the damage was minimal. The naga did flinch back and slithered out of her striking distance.
She shifted her Elemental Shield back into a dome because she was not sure what the naga was doing. Its blue shielding was not a surprise, but its speed was.
The blue shield was the only way she knew where it had gone. It stood well outside the light and did not move. In the dark, her hand was not shaking, which confused her, but she would use it. It looked like she had a clear shot, so she squeezed the trigger twice. In the confines of the cave, the echoing sound was loud.
The naga staggered, even with its Elemental Shield up, because it was not ready for the attack. She caught it by surprise, and it ducked behind something. She could still see its shield, but it was not as pronounced.
Relying on her magic to aim may not be the ideal way to use the handgun, but she would take all the advantages she had. Especially since Aila could not see the creature.
“Where did it go?” Aila asked her, but she ignored the question.
Lining up her next shot, she waited for the naga to move. It nearly caught her flat-footed. Once she saw its shield outlined in a crisp blue, she squeezed the trigger. The naga jerked to the side and fell over. It stayed on the ground, not moving.
Three. She told herself, keeping track of the rounds in the clip. The little glimpse she had of the naga was impressive, so she stood to check it out in the light.
Aila grabbed her. “What are ya doing?”
“I killed him, going to loot it.”
“So ya can see its shield still?” Aila asked her, and in the cold light from the sphere, the pixie’s raised eyebrow was asking another question entirely.
“Oh. Right.” She should have realized it was playing dead, and recognizing shielding and magic was a new dynamic she needed to understand. Thankfully Aila could not see her blushing.
The naga’s Elemental Shield constantly shifted, but it had a form that was roughly the shape of the creature. She aimed at its chest and fired off a round. The shield rippled, and then the naga rose and charged them. The eel half of its body gave it speed she could not match.
Four.
“It attacks.” She told Aila. “My gun is pointed at it.”
Aila was beside her, hand in motion as she brought up another spell. The base gesture was different than lightning, and the witch’s hand snapped back as she cast.
Air was sucked out of where they stood, and Boh felt herself panic slightly before she was breathing normal again. The wind buffeted her and tore across the cavern gathering dust and small stones. The more the wind picked up, the larger the objects she could hear bouncing around. She imagined all those stones and dust would feel like sandpaper scraping across her skin, and shuddered at the thought.
Not one to waste an opportunity, she used the wind to send off a few more rounds at the naga.
Five. Six. Boh told herself as the rounds struck her target’s shield.
“Elf doesss not play fair, but do not worry, I will rip your pointed earsssss off your-”
Seven. Eight. She fired twice more; threats were for stupid creatures. She had seven more rounds left in the clip.
Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. This time she had to guess where to shoot since the last two rounds collapsed the naga’s shield. The failing and screeching disturbed her, but the echoing sound made it hard to pinpoint the beast.
“I’m blind. Its shield is down.” She told Aila.
“Use ya ears girl.”
The light sphere went brighter in the pixie’s hand. The way Aila tilted her head had shifted her platinum hair revealing that she too had pointed ears. “It is no longer a threat, can ya hear the wetness in its screeching? It is mortally wounded.”
You have learned Handgun Expertise.
Handgun Expertise [Novice]
At Novice rank you gain the following:
- Increased understanding of Handguns, slightly boosts handling and accuracy.
Skills Acquired:
- The Innate skill Controlled Breathing
- The Innate skill Auto-Reload.
One Time Bonuses:
- Agility +1, Agility is now 8.
- Reflex +1, Reflex is now 3.
- Affinity to Fire +1%, Fire Affinity is now 76%.
Controlled Breathing – The ability to control your breathing while shooting weapons is invaluable. This will help steady your shot and improve accuracy. Note: This is effective on spellcasting too.
Auto-Reload – This innate ability will automatically refill any clips you are carrying, provided you have the loose rounds to refill them. This includes the clip in your gun. It takes one second for each round it reloads.
The Reload skill would help, and it reminded her to change clips. However, anything that could improve her accuracy was much appreciated. Either that or she just had to find a way to use magic to assist her.
Increasing a rank raised attributes automatically, which she hoped was not always the case. She needed Strength and the game was conspiring against her.
“Now ya understand why they want ya skill?” Aila asked. “Not even I knew exactly where the creature was. Granted, a cave like this gives ya a serious advantage, but if’n it realized what ya did, itta dropped its shield. Then ya woulda been as blind as me. Remember that. Now go, loot ya kill.”
Boh
Chapter 45
Vees
The satisfaction of getting rewarded is not measured by the reward, but by the acknowledgment.
-from Champions, A Study in Behavior
Loot! She just realized she had not looted anything up to this point, and she wanted to smack herself. All those drakes she helped kill. Sighing, she walked towards the body, and Aila followed. The Light Sphere only gave them about fifteen feet of clear vision, but it was enough to avoid falling into a random crevice.
Kneeling next to the naga, she felt nauseated at killing the thing. It looked human enough to make her sick to her stomach. She touched its cold, scaly skin and had to step over to the side to evacuate the contents of her stomach.
“Killing inna dark is easy, but always have enough respect to look at what ya killed. They deserve that much from ya.”
She did as she was told. The naga’s skin on its top half felt like a catfish; it was tough and smooth like rubber. One of the rounds she fired blindly caught the beast in the upper right side of the chest, a lucky shot.
You have looted 3 naga scales.
You have looted a Trident (Junk).
You have looted a silver ring (unidentified).
You have looted 5 Vouchers.
Mostly junk from what she could tell. The ring was probably low level, but she had no way to know because inspecting it provided no information.
“I know what a Voucher is, but the guy at Osprey Harbor said they were not worth it. What did he mean?”
“Vees are currency, and everything runs on vouchers. The Spire determines their value so that all Talons honor the current rate of exchange. Some goods may be priced higher or lower in a region, especially during war, but the voucher’s value does not change. On that island, vees probably had little value compared to resources or trade. It sometimes happens in out of the way places.”
“Is five vees a lot?” She started to ask, but Aila was already laughing. “Guess that’s a no?”
“Sorry, I canna help myself. Five vees might get ya a place to sleep in the common room of an
inn. Or a coupla meals maybe.”
Naga(Deceased)
- Age: Adult Male
- Aggression: High
- Health: Medium
[]Attacks:
- Ice Spear - Forms an icicle that flies towards its target at the speed of a high-velocity projectile.
- Charge - Runs at its opponent, dealing massive melee damage and possibly stunning its target for ten seconds.
- Choke - Wraps its tail around its target, crushing them. Also used to pull their victims underwater.
[]Historian:
- Territorial
“Woah, that thing is formidable.”
“And probably an adult, meaning even tougher than normal.”
“So how does age work?”
“Age is the cumulation of your power. Whya think I call ya a child? It represents your level of threat. If’n ya come across an Elder, stay away from it. If’n ya piss off an Ancient, kiss ya butt goodbye. A child poses the least threat. It tentatively goes like this: Child, Adolescent, Adult, Elder, and Ancient. There is the possibility of being a god, but it’s a change in yaself, ya race. Ya would start off as a Child god, and move up again, at least I think so. No one has ever done it that I know of.”
“Huh.” She was unfamiliar with an age system. “Midnight said he was an Elder. What does that mean exactly?”
“It means he is one of the most dangerous dragons out there. It is a way to rank him among other dragons, and for dragons, there is a physical change. Midnight accumulated a lot of life experience. Had he not died, he might have become an Ancient soon.” Aila told her.
Frowning at the comment, she felt the grief she had been holding back trying to claw its way forward. She missed the big dragon because, despite her rough start in this world, she had come to respect him. She was not ready to explore her feelings over the dragon because there had not been time to process it.