by James Patton
“Sorry, I know it was not your fault. Midnight is well known throughout the Talons, but not as you seem to view him. He is a dragon you do not cross. In war, few dragons fought alongside their rider, most stand back and let the two-legs shoot it out. When Midnight showed up, the other dragons paid attention and waited to see if he would-”
“Sing,” she said interrupting Aila. “He sang when he fought, and was singing during his last stand. He moved with a grace that belied his size, and even with an endless amount of enemies coming at him, he showed no fear. He was laughing, and the last I saw him, he was facing at least twenty drakes and an alpha.”
“Yes, I was not sure about ya story, but hearing that, I no longer doubt ya. It has been a long time since anyone has heard his battle song. C’mon, we gotta keep movin’” Aila’s childlike shoulders sagged, and she wondered what the pixie knew that she did not.
“I need a quick second before we go,” she told Aila and stepped away from her trying to control her emotions. She put her hand over her heart and concentrated on her pain and grief. The massacre and Midnight weighed on her heavily, but she did not have time to process that. She controlled her heart, slowed its beat, contained the pain, and got her life under control once more.
The muscles in her face relaxed, and her spine straightened. She was stronger than anyone she knew. It was as she told Aila before, there is power in knowing something and believing it. She knew she was stronger than most.
Aila was holding a wicked looking Shotel, and she only knew the type of blade because she inspected it. It almost reminded her of a sharpened two-foot hook, and she felt sorry for whatever that thing struck.
“A pixie with a bladed weapon?”
“The Shotel is our weapon of choice. Do not be fooled by our innocent appearance. Not all the fairy tale stories of pixies are false.” Aila told her cryptically. “We needa go; ya gunfire is gonna draw things, naga or otherwise.”
“I could help us find an exit with my Sonar ability?”
“No!” Aila hissed her face going pale. “A place like this is gonna have creatures hidden we cannot fight. That skill is dangerous. It should be used with extreme caution.”
“Let’s go then.” She said following Aila. “Tell me something, why do spells of rank Expert or higher require a skill slot?”
“Spells of that level are gonna require more than hand gestures. They need a purer energy source. Ya body needs to be attuned to those specific elements to cast the higher rank spells. It is why changing those abilities comes with temporary weakness because ya body needs to adjust to it.”
“So my Pierce the Veil or any activated ability is changing my physiology?”
“Precisely. Elemental Magic is pulling energy from all things; it's dirty. Attuning to a spell allows ya to pull a cleaner amount of a certain type of element.”
They walked for some time in silence after that. She tried to understand the way magic worked and found that she could see the magic she was pulling in. Focusing, she realized she could pull from specific areas more deeply. It was still dirty, but it was not dissimilar to how Aila described attuning a spell.
They walked for another couple of hours without incident. The cave system was extensive, but the route they traveled was practically an underground highway. The pathway was easy to follow, even if it wound back and forth.
Neither of them talked, and she knew they were getting tired and needed a rest. A cavern opened up before them, maybe the tenth they passed, but this one was different. Glowing lichen filled the chamber, and it was the first place they came to that felt safe.
She took the Light Sphere from Aila, who had turned it off, and put it into her messenger bag. The lichen seemed to brighten when the sphere went out, which was even better.
There was a recessed place behind a massive stalactite that fell from the ceiling. They both looked at each other as if asking each other’s opinion and then started laughing. Aila dropped her pack and gestured to the ground near her.
“Rest girl. We still gotta ways to go, and I’d rather not fight anything tired.”
Throwing her bag on the ground, she pushed it back as far behind the stalactite as she could. She curled up and laid sideways resting her head on the bag. This way she could at least see if anything was coming.
Aila
Chapter 46
The Albino
I am drawn to forests and gardens. It is rooted deep in my pixie nature, just as I seem to be drawn to the strange and unusual.
-from Aila, Audio Roll 0629
Nagas entered the cavern from one of the side tunnels, and she froze with indecision. She was not sure if she should wake Boh or just let her sleep and hope the naga left. Their hearing was sharp, and if Boh made any sign, the naga would locate them.
Aila tapped her nose while she stared at the elf girl, and decided the risk was too high. If the naga found them, the girl would have to defend herself. Aila felt sure she could take them all, but Boh was weak without her shield to protect her.
Her small feet made no sound as she padded over to Boh, and then brought up some of her pixie magic to give herself some extra strength. Her hand slid over the girl’s mouth. Boh started to buck under her, but Aila kept her still until the girl stopped struggling.
“Shh,” Aila whispered, her mouth barely moving. “Naga.”
Boh nodded at her, and she removed her hand and went to peek around the stalactite. The girl was smart enough to make no sound, or so she hoped.
From her previous observation, she knew there were three naga, and appeared to be arguing. After reassessing, she was not sure she could take them alone. Even with her formidable skills and Boh’s surprising aptitude for magic, the albino had her worried. They did have one advantage, the amount of light the lichen gave off.
The pale-skinned naga had ice-like ridges along his head and down his spine, and razor-sharp icicles adorned its tail. Its arms were thin, but ice layered the shoulders and chest making it look bulkier than it was.
The ice armor was new, or at least she had never heard or seen a spell that could do that. The albino was a mage of some talent, probably even a Master Mage in ice magic, which could account for his pale skin.
It was neat, but not her primary concern. The albino’s human half ended in a thick but shorter tail. He was one of the Lizard Clan. The other two were of the Snake Clan, which she would expect in a place like this. She was not an expert in naga history, but she knew that their clans rarely got along. Seeing three of the clans together and not fighting over territory left her feeling uneasy.
“Valas is dead.” The albino said with some venom. Even from here she could see the naga’s ice blue veins through its translucent skin. “What was he doing that close to the exit? You all know the rules.”
The other two looked at each other, but the nagas had the same guilty expressions a human would wear.
“Herbsss, he wasss getting them for the shhhaman. Hiss wife iss not well.” One of the two said.
Damn, that’s gonna hurt. Aila thought and looked towards Boh. The elf refused to look at her until she grabbed the girl’s jaw in a vice grip that only her pixie strength could provide.
Boh’s angry eyes finally found hers, and she gave the Champion a crooked smile. It was impossible to figure Boh out because one moment she was fearless and decisive and the next she was lost and clueless. Despite it all, she liked the girl, and not just because of the windfall of energy she provided.
She kept the girl’s jaw in a death grip and pointed in the general direction of the three nagas. Then she jabbed a finger into Boh’s chest and then pantomimed slitting the elf girl's throat.
Boh’s face went slack, and she hoped the girl understood. The fact she was pulling on the tip of her ear was a good sign. Aila had witnessed Boh do this on several occasions and could almost feel the girl’s mood change. Finally, Boh tried to nod fiercely at her, and Aila released the girl’s jaw.
The resigned look on the pale elf’s
face was all she needed. The girl understood and would do what she had to do. The naga would kill both of them without hesitation. Her trickster blood gave her pause, and she watched to make sure the girl was not trying to trick her. Then she went back to observing the naga.
The albino’s shoulders had sagged, and he appeared less sure than before. “Get more guards up here. A two-leg was here, and I can still smell gunpowder. I doubt they got far.”
“We will sssearch for it and feed it to the Depthsss. Ssshould we wake Uro?”
“No, not yet.” The albino turned towards where they hid. Boh and her were still near the tunnel they came through initially. “What is that sound?”
“More intrudersss?”
She had no idea what was about to happen, but she felt her pixie magic on the rise once more.
Boh
Chapter 47
Ice Mage
I admit my diagnosis made me angry. It was a cosmic imbalance. As I have aged, I believe that the anger and MS made me a better version of myself.
-from Boh’s Journal, April 22nd, N148
What color were her bruises? She wondered as she rubbed her aching jaw. The pixie’s inhuman strength was impressive and scary as hell. She understood what the small woman was tried to do, so she let it go.
Vibrations reached her before she heard another uninvited guest joining them. The nagas did not have an angle on the entrance and Aila was too short to see. Boh could see the beast charging into the room and ducked down before she was spotted. She brought Aila down with her.
“Drake,” Boh whispered in the pixie’s ear.
The drake was almost the size of the Alpha that Midnight had fought and it padded silently across the wet stone. Its nails occasionally clicked against the stone, but even that was silent. It was the labored breathing that echoed down the halls.
It barely slowed as it came around the turn and barreled into the room. Seeing the naga, it slid to a stop stop and stared at the creatures with its head tilted sideways. Boh was not an expert on drakes, but it looked surprise as it appraised the new threat.
Even if the drake was not surprised, she was. The entire time she had been in this game, only the alpha appeared to have any intelligence. This one was not acting rashly and took time to assess the situation.
Time crawled to a stop as everyone present collectively held their breath. The albino reacted first. He leveled his trident towards the drake and started to glow. The naga she killed did the same thing, and she knew it was activating Charge. If it was afraid, it did not show it.
The two Snake Clan nagas started casting spells, and even behind a rock her ability allowed her to follow it all. The drake even had a shield up. The nagas were rushing their spells and switched into their forming phase too fast. Boh recognized that the spells would work, but they were going to be weak.
A deep roar emanated from deep within the drake, shaking the stones across the cavern floor. In the confines of this cavern, it might as well have been a sonic attack. One of the nagas stopped casting and tried to block out the sound with his hands. With all of them distracted it might be a good time for Aila and her to run, but she wanted to see this fight.
Following the roar, the drake charged them and leaped into the air. Wings flared out as he banked around a rock formation and then brought his wings in tight. The maneuver sent him dropping like a rock towards one of the spellcasters. The naga’s eyes widened with fear as the beast hurtled towards it.
Boh winced at the impact and felt Aila tense next to her. They saw the naga bounce off the wall and the thick gouges across its chest exposed the beating heart behind it. Aortal mist sprayed the drake covering him in the naga’s lifeblood.
The drake kept moving towards the naga, and his opened maw revealed a faint greenish glow coming from his teeth. It bit down on the naga’s head, and there was a hissing sound where the teeth sunk into flesh. The naga started convulsing, and the drake savagely twisted his head, decapitating the dying creature.
The albino did not waste an opportunity, and its Charge triggered. The ice-covered naga closed the distance between him and the drake, with its trident preceding it. The drake growled and staggered as the trident stabbed into his side.
Her sharp elvish hearing picked up the tinging sound as scales broke away and bounced across the stone floor. Followed by the hissing sound of the drake’s orange blood oozing out onto the ground.
How hot is that things blood? Boh wondered.
An Ice Spear shot forth from the spellcasting naga. The spear grew out of its palm until it reached almost five feet in length. Once free of the naga’s palm it shot across the cavern striking against the drake’s shielding.
The shield held, but the drake dodge back and retaliated by spitting the dead naga’s head at the spellcaster. The drake was laughing, and the other naga started casting again. The albino struck again with its trident and hit the drake on its rear hindquarters. This time the drake stumbled off balance, and its back leg scrabbled across the ground trying to find purchase.
“This is our cavern, drake. You should have stayed away.” The albino had shifted while it talked, and she saw what it was doing. The drake did not seem like the others, but Boh was not about to risk calling out.
As the albino triggered its charge move once more, she caught the briefest glimpses of the amount of energy that went into it. The pale naga was trying to end the fight quickly and went for a killing strike.
The drake shifted to the side and growled as the trident slid past him. The stumbling limp vanished as the drake revealed its feint. A claw the size of her head came down hard, slicing through the scales, ice-crusted flesh, tendons, and muscles of the albino’s forearm.
The trident clattered to the ground as it fell from limp fingers, and the pale naga’s confidence turned to surprise and then fear. The next paw struck along the albino’s side, and small scales splashed across the area like confetti.
The other naga finished casting its spell, and the drake shoved the albino in the way. The Ice Spear went through its back and came out its stomach. The drake pushed the albino aside and charged forward.
“This is a real drake,” Aila whispered to her.
At about the same time Aila was whispering, she heard the wet sound of torn flesh and looked up towards the fight once more.
The drake’s claw had swiped down and across the naga’s body. One of his nails got caught in the naga’s jaw, and the amount of power behind the swing ripped the lower mandible right off the naga. And the momentum was not slowed as the naga’s collarbone was driven down into its stomach. The naga died before its body hit the floor.
The temperature dropped drastically, and she could see her breath coming out in a fog. Instinctively, she had pulled her gun and hesitated. Thinking the albino dead is the kind of mistake that created corpses. The drake was in trouble, and for some reason Boh had her pistol raised to aid the big beast.
Quest: Save the Drake
- Objective 1: Help the drake survive
- Rewards: Depends on how well you complete the objective
- Quest Granted By: Area Event
Alternate Completion:
- Objective 1: Stay out of it and let them both die.
- Rewards: Title: Indifferent
That secondary reward is bullshit. Boh groused, not wanting a title like that.
“Decide quickly,” Aila told her, and all pretenses of hiding ended. “If ya gonna save him, ya ain’t got much time.”
The witch was a freak of nature, and she wondered once more if the woman could read minds. Aila put the onus on her to decide the drake’s outcome, and Boh was outside her comfort zone.
The albino released its spell, and she saw the magic spread across the ceiling all around the drake. Icicles the size of her finger started forming from that dark blue mist until they were released. The small ice shards that started raining down were moving too fast to dodge.
Icicles that struck stone shattered and sent smaller sl
ivers of ice in all directions. There were so many pieces of ice flying around that she had a hard time seeing the drake.
“Ice Needles,” Aila informed her loudly, trying to be heard over the shattering of a thousand icicles. “That albino is at least a Master Ice Mage.”
Boh
Chapter 48
Spell Book
I asked my dad if he knew what today was. He said nothing but three hours later I had a new tv, game system, and clothes. My birthday was three months away. I just meant it was Saturday, no school. I realized scaring men was easy. Too easy.
-from Boh’s Journal, May 17th, N139
“Dammit,” Boh said with her heart thumping. The gun option was a joke, and she knew she was not going to save the beast with it. She sighed, because she only had one spell that would help and she really disliked using it.
First she cast Inversion on the drake, and saw the weakening shield start to recover almost immediately. The shattering ice was considered physical damage, and it was barely slowed by the shield.
Her hands started moving as she began to cast Transfusion, the seductive darkness coalesced around Boh’s hand before forming the beam that struck the albino. Without its shield, the spell met little resistance as it wrapped around the freak of nature. The moment the healing started, she could feel the euphoria settling in. Boh’s body shook with the desire to drain the naga completely of life. Light energy started to sheath the ray of dark energy, and her other hand formed the gesture to transfer life.
A loud growl was followed by a wave of heat as the drake, hidden in the epicenter of the ice spell, caught fire. The change startled her, but it was not enough to interrupt her spell. The ray of light energy flowed from her other hand transferring life into the drake.
Her Feedback was rising until it breached the threshold. A growl echoed through the cavern once more, but this time she knew the sound was coming from her. They came unbidden as the albino somehow fought against her spell.