by L. R. Wolf
Elohwa tilted her head towards Aya.
Party chat- “I obtained the recipes and materials from the materials chest in the dungeon. These are all that I was able to make so we need to make them count.
Aya nodded and continued to devour more of the meat and some of the less crunchy fruits. It was going to be a long night and they could use all of the energy they could get. Before them, the undead were wandering around. Further out, they could see loot markers that were glowing red. A sure sign they would be decaying soon. Aya frowned, she hated missing out on loot, but she would hate to lose Elohwa even more. As if hearing Aya’s thoughts, glowing eyes turned in their direction.
“Crap.” Aya flicked a hand covering both herself and Elohwa with a Fire Shield. More and more eyes turned towards them. Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Archers, and Skeleton Knights began to turn and lumber towards them.
Aya began casting Fire Storm over the patches of archers dotted around the area. A few arrows avoided being consumed by the fire raining down over the heads of the archers, and landed too close for comfort to the women.
Elohwa turned her attention back towards the warriors who were about to swarm them. She gestured towards the largest pack of warriors, a green glow surrounding her hand before massive vines shot through the ground and wrapped around the brittle legs. She triggered her Blade Dance ability. Her body blurred and moved at incredible speed as she danced and wove her way through another pack of skeletons; her Twin Blades lashed out removing skulls and other limbs from their skeletal bodies.
Aya had turned towards Elohwa just in time to see the group of six warriors begin to fall apart before her eyes seemingly for no reason. Here and there she saw a flash of metal as the Companion’s Twin Blades glinted in the light emitted by the Fire Shield. When the dance ended, Elohwa stood behind the warriors, her Twin Blades held down at her sides. She had absolutely destroyed the warriors, they just didn’t realize it yet. Their bodies disintegrated into dust, stone markers replacing their bones. From the start of her Dance to the end was three seconds. In three seconds, Elohwa had annihilated six warriors, but the victory had come at a cost, her stamina was now completely drained; her reflexes slowed.
The second group of Warriors that Elohwa had kept at bay with the Entangling Vines broke free and descended on the, now helpless, Shadow Elf.
“I don’t think so, boys.” Aya swept her arm across her chest creating a roaring Wall of Flame in front of them. She pushed her hand towards the wall, which began to move towards the warriors. The flames charring the bones. If they managed to survive the heat and flames of the wall, their bodies crumbled under their own weight, the fire having created cracks across their skeletal frame leaving them weak.
Elohwa grabbed a stamina potion, while Aya eliminated the second group of warriors. Her stamina was still rising when another arrow pierced her leg, a second arrow, aimed directly at her head, cut across her cheek as a sudden gust of wind blew across the field from the mountains at their back deflecting the potentially fatal blow. She gritted her teeth in pain as she grabbed the arrow in her leg and forced it out the other side through the back of her leg so she could break off the head before removing the shaft. Blood coated her hands as she grabbed for another health potion. Before she could drink it, a wave of healing descended over her. The pain from her wounds disappeared just as her wounds did. She looked towards Aya who was staring in her direction.
Elohwa looked into the woman’s eyes. Her normally calm, blue eyes were now a raging inferno of blue fire. Flames completely covered her body now that weren’t a part of the Fire Shield. Another arrow drove itself into Aya’s side. A primal roar of rage and defiance escaped the Dreamer’s lips as a wave of pressure slammed into the surrounding skeletons throwing many of them off their feet. A dome made completely of blue fire surrounded the women, arrows aimed in their direction turned to ash in midair as they slammed into the wall of the dome.
“What power is this?” Elohwa whispered quietly to herself as new power surged through her own body. She felt as though nothing could harm her, she was invincible.
Chapter 15: The Dead Fields
∆∆∆
The Fire Dome surrounding the two women was a raging inferno of power. Any skeleton that got within range of the dome turned into ash within seconds. Elohwa continued to glance at Aya. She was growing concerned that the Dreamer had entered a spell trance. If that were the case, then Aya would be crashing hard in a few minutes and she would be completely and utterly defenseless. The Dreamer didn’t seem to notice the arrow that was protruding from her side. Elohwa wouldn’t be able to expose the arrow tip without doing major damage, the only way to remove it would be just to pull it out.
“I need to remove the arrow in order to heal you, but it will hurt.” Elohwa knew how badly this would hurt, but Aya was new to this world. Yes, she had already died twice, once rather painfully, but this would be excruciating and there was nothing she could do to ease the pain until after the arrow was removed.
Aya’s fiery eyes met hers, a slight nod her only acknowledgement. Elohwa took a breath and positioned herself in front of Aya. She removed a sharp knife from her belt and used her cloak to wrap around her right hand to give her a better grip to remove the arrow faster. “I am truly sorry about this.” Before she could talk herself out of what she was about to do, she used the knife to quickly open the wound a bit more in order to slide the arrowhead out easier before she pulled the arrow out of Aya’s side.
A scream escaped the Dreamer’s lips and she collapsed forward into Elohwa. Elohwa immediately dumped a vial of healing potion on Aya’s side, while at the same time, casting Lesser Heal to help the healing along. All she could do was hold the Dreamer while she recovered from the shock of the pain. After a few extra seconds, Aya pulled back, the fire in her eyes had died somewhat. She managed to grunt out a few words between breaths. “Let’s….not do that….again.”
Elohwa nodded in agreement. “I concur. Now we just need to survive until daybreak.”
Aya glanced at the clock in her HUD, safety was at least another six hours away. With a sigh, she began scanning the area around the dome. Skeleton Knights, which were much slower than the warriors due to the extra weight of the heavier weapons and shields they carried, were now approaching the dome. The heat rolling off the dome was already beginning to turn their shields red as they pushed forwards towards the women. When they came into contact with the dome itself, the flames raced across their bodies completely engulfing them in angry blue flame. With a quick look, Elohwa garnered a bit of information about their newest foe.
Skeleton Knight-The remains of a once honorable warrior raised by black magic, now seeks out life to extinguish. The bones that make up this Knight are thicker than its other counterparts which allow the Knight to both wear heavy armor and wield heavy weapons and shields.
Skill Level 60
Around them, the glowing eyes of the undead were starting to brighten and shift in color from yellow to orange. As the moon rose in the night sky, they would become more and more powerful as the night wore on. Zombies began to rise from their slumber and push past the dirt and gravel covering their unmarked graves. The skeletons that were already within range had jumped in levels as their strength increased. Elohwa once again moved back towards Aya. Outside of the dome, the Skeleton Warriors didn’t stand a chance against the overwhelming heat coming from the dome. The Skeleton Knights weren’t faring any better. All around the outside perimeter of the Fire Dome, stone markers littered the area. Further out, some of the tombstones had turned red indicating that time was running out to loot them.
“This Fire Dome, is this something you can cast again or is it some special skill or ability you obtained somewhere?” Elohwa knew that if this dome fell, they would likely follow it.
Aya quickly opened her spellbook and checked the spells. She honestly didn’t even remember actually casting the Fire Dome, it had just appeared when they had needed it most. There, in her
spell book were the new spells she had created.
Fire Wall- A wall of living Fire that can be pushed away from the caster to travel across a distance. Base Damage 25 dps. 5% mana cost. Duration 20 seconds (base)
Fire Dome- A dome of pure fire that can either be used to surround and protect the caster and their party or to surround a group of enemies. Any enemies touching the wall will be buffeted back. Base Damage 50. 40% mana cost. Duration-2 mins. (base)
Aya grinned, but there was no humor to be had. Anyone seeing the grin would recognize it as one of a hunter stalking its prey. Archers were still rising and peppering the Fire Dome with arrows, but none could pierce through to harm the two women. Aya appeared to be back to her normal self as her eyes swept over to the zombies shambling towards them.
Lesser Zombie-The rotting visage of a fallen elven warrior on its way to becoming nothing but bone.
Skill Level 50
The zombies were a short step up from the skeletons. While the skeletons were just animated bones, the lesser zombies were on their way to becoming skeletons. Bones protruded in multiple places, the flesh was starting to slough off most of the body. Aya actually gagged at the truly horrific effect. Any horror buff would have been incredibly impressed, but Aya hated horror shows and movies. She repressed her emotions and refocused her efforts. The Fire Dome began to flicker.
“Fire Dome!” Aya brought her right arm across her chest, with her palm facing outwards, before swiping her arm back across her body. The wall of blue flame completely encircled both women once again. A timer in her vision refreshed its countdown. She hadn’t even realized that this timer was for the Fire Dome. Four other Skeleton Knights were caught by the dome, shoving them back and causing them to Burn. As the various skeletons crumpled beneath the onslaught of flame, they left behind their stone markers. While Aya was busy keeping them alive, Elohwa decided to create her own spell to assist with looting considering some stones had already disappeared and others were getting close.
“How do you create a spell?” Elohwa knew this was a special ability of the Dreamers, but no one knew how it was done. She wasn’t even sure if she would be able to do it even if she had the knowledge.
Aya glanced over to her Companion as she threw another Fire Wall out beyond the dome. “I just think about what I want the spell to do and it does it.”
Elohwa shrugged and closed her eyes. In her mind she pictured the Entangling Vines bursting from the ground, but rather than have them snake out and wrap around the legs of enemies, she thought about having them seek out the stones and return them to the women to be looted. She felt a sudden rush of power as the mana was being used to form the spell. Her hands raised and made the gestures required for the spell before a huge swath of vines erupted from the ground at her feet and began to slither away towards their targets. Her mana continued to drain while the vines sought out the stones that littered the field. The undead watched the vines as they raced past, but otherwise left them alone due to not being viewed as a threat. The vines, upon reaching their targets, wrapped around the stones before returning to deposit the stones at Elohwa’s feet. Her mana continually drained because the spell was channeled, but as the vines returned or were in the process of returning, it became easier and the mana drain lessened, since she was no longer having to extend her focus out to the very edges of her range.
Once all of the vines had returned with their payloads in tow, Elohwa knelt down and touched the stones. Many were on the verge of expiring; those were the ones she looted first. Once the area was clear of stones, she turned her attention back to what was going on outside of the Fire Dome.
“Zombies incoming!” Elohwa shouted to Aya as the first of the zombies came within firing distance of Aya’s spells.
Aya turned her attention to the new enemies. She had been experimenting with new ways to use her fire spells and she continued to do so. As the zombies approached, she focused on them. Picturing in her mind what she wanted the flames to do, her hands would seem to have minds of their own and would put her thoughts into action. This particular spell was very much like her previous Fire Dome spell, only this one took shape around the zombies closest to them. As the zombies tried to pass through the wall they were buffeted back into the wall behind them which had the effect of them getting tossed around back and forth within this new Fire Dome. With three zombies out of commission for the duration of the spell Aya cast another Fire Dome around her and Elohwa both to damage anything that got too close and to toss the encroachers back a few feet keeping them at bay. Elohwa hadn’t been able to do much melee due to Aya’s new mastery of fire. Elohwa pulled out her Short Bow and started to pepper the undead with arrows, the arrowheads igniting as they passed through the dome giving them additional bonus fire damage.
“Have any mana potions you can spare?” Aya had been keeping up their Fire Shields and using the Fire Dome to both protect them and to keep groups of ranged attackers at bay so her mana was starting to run low. If it got too low she’d start suffering the effects of mana fatigue which could cause her to lose concentration on her spells and get one or both of them killed.
“On it!” Elohwa flung her bow across her back for a moment as she fished around in her satchel for more mana potions. She had quite a few stacks of mana vials and other potions. While she had been trapped there had been nothing to do but work on tradeskills, so she had quite an abundance of potions, tinctures, cloth and leather armors, and a multitude of odds and ends of other things that she had crafted through the years. She felt a brief moment of pride at finally being able to use the items that she had labored so hard on, before she shook her head. Elohwa turned her attention back to the present, as she grabbed two stacks of mid level mana potions. Each one would be able to fill Aya’s mana almost completely and each stack was twenty. Elohwa slid both stacks into quick release slots on Aya’s belt so that she could get to them quickly. She then grabbed the short bow again and resumed firing on the seemingly unending horde of undead.
“Thanks!” Aya finished casting another Fire Wall, pushing it away from her and grabbed one of the mana potions. She used her teeth to remove the cork at the top and chugged it down. She had been focused on keeping up their personal shields and the Fire Dome to keep increasingly more and more undead from reaching them. As the night went on, the undead were not only growing more powerful, but more numerous.
Elohwa took a moment to scan the battlefield. Because there weren’t many trees or other obstructions in the way, her Elven Sight allowed her to see for incredible distances and what she saw approaching them made her heart sink.
Aya noticed Elohwa’s far off gaze as she was looking for threats beyond the scope of Aya’s own vision. She could swear Elohwa’s face drained of color when she spotted something in the distance. “What is it? What’s wrong?” In the short time she’d known the woman she hadn’t seen Elohwa balk at anything. Even when they were facing down the undead, before they knew they could take them, Elohwa had stood steadfast, but whatever it was that she saw caused her to pause.
“Some more Skeleton Knights coming,” Elohwa hesitated a moment before continuing, “Ghouls, closing fast, behind them is at least one lich, but it does not appear to be advancing that quickly.”
“Are they immune to fire or something? We haven’t really had much of a problem yet.” Aya couldn’t help it, but she had the feeling she had just jinxed them.
“I doubt they are immune to fire, but they are more powerful than what we have seen thus far, and their levels do not adequately reflect that power. If they get to us, then you will be respawning seconds after. As for the lich,” Elohwa frowned “he is most definitely a caster, but of what school I can not ascertain until I see him cast something. If he is of the same school as you, then there will be trouble as I am sure he would have high fire resists.” Elohwa pondered for a moment as it wouldn’t make sense for a lich to specialize in fire considering that fire was a natural opposite of all undead. They would just have to wait an
d see as it got closer.
Aya looked around frantically, looking for some kind of avenue of escape, if not for her then for Elohwa. They couldn’t recall, that would just bring them right back to the graveyard here. ”How difficult do you think they would be?”
“I believe we can take them. The only one that truly concerns me is the Lich.” Elohwa kept glancing back in the Lich’s direction. She was brought out of her Far Gaze by Aya.
“Elohwa? I don’t suppose you have any spells from any other school, do you? Something I can experiment with while we wait on the lich?” Aya refreshed the Fire Dome that surrounded the women, but with this new one she waved her hand so that the Fire Dome began to rotate. She raised a secondary Fire Dome around the first with a five foot gap and set that one in the opposite direction. If any of the ghouls managed to break through one of the walls then they would end up caught in a death trap considering they would get thrown back by the inner wall and then back into a new section of wall as they were spinning, they’d basically become the equivalent of undead pinballs.
Elohwa saw what Aya was doing and nodded briefly at Aya’s ingenuity with magic. “That is absolutely brilliant!” Between the two Fire Domes and the Fire Shields, she doubted that any of the skeletons would be able to reach them so it seemed like they had a few brief moments to relax. Elohwa positioned herself in front of Aya and put a hand on her forehead, as she did so, Aya placed her right hand on Elohwa’s forehead. They both thought about the spells they wanted to teach the other and mentally pushed them towards one another. A warning flashed quickly across Aya’s vision when she tried to teach Elohwa the spells she had created.
Take note, Dreamer! Your Companion is already aware of the spells you have created! As you form new spells, your Companion will automatically learn them from you! The reverse is also true, as your Companion creates new spells, so too shall you learn them automatically!