Legacy First Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 of the Legacy Series

by Ryan Attard

  Their red eyes indicated that they were either a subspecies or some genetic mutation. Either way, those Bicorns had some major street cred within the rest of the tribe. Unicorns were vicious and violent, often fighting each other, but they never once touched the Bicorn. In fact something told me that Bicorns were smarter than the average unicorn. They had complete control over the pack and were often guarded, with unicorns always warding off predators like soldiers protecting their king.

  I had stumbled across a unicorn herd by mistake and killed the entire family, including the Bicorn. I knew not to eat the unicorns but the Bicorns had no poison to speak of. In fact, after a little open-fire barbecue, I had the first filling meal in a long while. Something in that meat made me feel stronger and healthier.

  So that pretty much filled my schedule for the next few days. I would circle around my home base in wider and wider circles, trying to find a way out of the forest and hunt for Bicorns. Slowly, I realized that these equine creatures always stayed on the path that led out of the forest. All I had to do was hide until I was ready to eliminate them. Trees got less dense and the obelisk got bigger and bigger until it nearly filled half of my entire field of vision.

  Laying my stuff down I set eyes on a unicorn herd. My coat, along with my gun and a Wurm-hide sleeping blanket were all rolled up together and stashed behind a tree. Djinn was strapped to my back in its usual place and I preferred not to use it, if I could avoid doing so. Actively using magic in this place was exhausting.

  Instead I carried a bow I had carved out of a tree on my third night here. I had even fashioned a quiver for my arrows which I kept strapped to my left hip. It was more of a belt, and not very comfortable, and could only hold half a dozen arrows but it did the trick. Arrows had been easy to make: twigs were aplenty in this place.

  It was my archery practice that had needed some work but after a few days of hunting, it was top notch again. The need for survival does wonders for your learning skills.

  I did not waste time looking for the Bicorn. Instead I just took out the unicorn sentries and moved further into their territory. There I found more unicorns that I had to kill. Once you get the hang of it, killing the same creature over and over again becomes quite easy. Halfway through my arrows were either too far to retrieve or broken, so I had to resort to my magical short sword. But again, no biggie.

  The Bicorn was the last thing to die and after an hour of building a fire, cutting the horse up and shish-kebabing it, I was enjoying a lovely meal.

  And that's when I heard the scream.

  My arrow was already notched and ready to fire, but I remained hidden behind the vegetation to watch what was going on. This was a new roar, one I hadn't heard before. Wurm, Critters, unicorns—by now I could identify each and every one of the fifteen new monsters I had named during my two-week stay inside this hell hole of a forest.

  This scream matched none of them.

  They were a trio of men. Well no, not quite men, but they looked human. My heartbeat accelerated when I saw them: there were other people on this plane!

  Then I began looking for details. Their arms were too long and slender. They were about six feet tall, and thin, almost sickly. They had long hair that came down to their shoulders: two dark-haired and the other a golden blond color. Their ears slightly longer and flat, almost like a bat's. They ran awkwardly as if their bones were heavier than usual and every movement took a lot more effort.

  Or maybe they just never worked out a day in their lives.

  Judging from their clothes, I'd say these guys weren't from around my place. They wore a one piece tunic of tan and beige, with a dark-colored sash around their waist and thick shoes that ended in a rounded point. They all wore a set of bangles on their arms and the blond one had a pair of earrings that had an emerald ball dangling from each one. In short, they looked like very rich elves from a fantasy novel and did not fit the image of belonging in this wild, rough-and-tumble forest.

  Which I suppose explains why they were running and screaming bloody murder. At one point, a dark-haired one stumbled on the ground, bashing his face against a tree. Dark, greenish blood oozed out of his nose and his companions bent down to help him.

  Meanwhile, whatever made the foreign roar emerged.

  It was a battle between beast and machine. The beast was seven feet tall with mud-brown fur and thick limbs that could have torn a man in half. It walked with a hunch and once its back turned I could see why. From each of its vertebrae, a black stone jutted out, like a mound of obsidian. It had a small stub of a tail, just barely over a foot long, covered in fur. From its shoulders a pair of black horns, matching the bumps along its spine, jutted out: three-inches-worth of black spikes. The beast had wild feral eyes, bloodshot red with a yellow pupil, almost like a cat's. You know, if said cat was the love child of King Kong and the Hulk. The beast roared and swung wildly at the annoying robot in front of it.

  The robot was as strange as they come—and that's saying something, given that I was in a magical land, in a creepy forest full of poisonous unicorns, watching three elves pee their pants, while a real-life Big Foot smashed a robot.

  The robot's main feature was that it had no feet. In fact, just where the hips began on a human skeleton, this thing had a rounded plate that just hummed and hovered above the ground. It was fast though, darting around the place. Its shoulders were wide, and it looked almost like an inverted triangle—starting at a tapered point from the spherical bottom to a pair of wide shoulders where a pair of metallic arms ended with giant hands. Its head was round with a slit down the middle, just like an ass crack.

  I know. I laughed too when I saw it.

  The bottom half of the automaton's face was a triangle that looked like Darth Vader's helmet. The entire machine was completely silver, gleaming under the sun. Veins of yellow and blue ran underneath the metal chassis of the robot where what I assumed to be electricity coursed through.

  The robot sure looked cool, but that was just about it. The beast pummeled into it, grabbed its arms and ripped it apart. Finally it grabbed its head, wrenched it apart and proceeded to disembowel the robot like a kid unwrapping a Christmas present. Finally, it tossed the robot's remains aside and turned to the elves who stood there stunned.

  One of them tapped a bangle and I felt the crackle of magic in the air. Before he could launch whatever spell he wanted to, the beast's hand smacked into him and the elf was sent flying. The blond elf grabbed the brown-haired elf that fell earlier, yelled something in a foreign language and tossed him towards the elf that the beast had just thrown.

  Then the blond elf took a stance in front of the beast. Brave but he wasn't fooling anyone. I could see the tremble in his body. Those clothes flapped with every knee jerk. He was scared and the beast knew it. All three of them were going to die.

  Unless of course, a certain good-looking, smart-mouth wizard saved the day. They might even be so grateful as to take me to their city and throw me a hero parade. They might even know how to get out of here.

  I watched as the elf pulled out a fist-sized rod of dull silver steel and extended it into a spear. Still trembling he yelled something and stabbed his weapon into the beast. Big Foot didn't even move. The spear pierced muscle and was stuck there. The beast roared, swung its body to one side violently and both Legolas and the spear were thrown away. I kept my eyes on the weapon: it had blood on the first two inches of the blade but no further. Which meant that it couldn't penetrate bone. Whatever that creature was, it had bones harder than steel and my flimsy arrow was going to do jack shit against it. Time to switch tactics.

  I slung the bow around me and reached into my stash. I always kept a pair of unicorn horns with me, just in case some creature ambushed me. The poison was fast and strong enough to stop anything in its tracks and, best part, so long as it got into the bloodstream, it didn’t matter how deep the horn penetrated.

  I pulled one out, stood up as I took aim and threw the horn like a dart. The black poi
son spike flew right into the beast's leg. Enraged, the beast pulled the horn out, tearing its own leg muscle, and threw it away. I expected it to be on the ground by now but instead it reared up, saw me and charged.

  I grabbed the other horn and threw it as well. Again, it embedded itself in the monster's shoulder. The beast's run went into a tangent and smashed into a tree. The poison must have finally taken effect.

  Proving me wrong once more, the beast stood up, as healthy as ever. Just more enraged and focused on killing the good-looking, smart-mouthed wizard that thought two unicorn horns could stop it.

  It swung a giant arm at me and I blocked with both Djinn and my left arm. I felt bone snap as my forearm swelled up, and then felt the familiar sensation of my healing magic. I wrenched Djinn out of the beast and rolled away. It roared as it nursed its arm, showing me a cut that had torn through muscle but not bone.

  Pitch-black bone.

  My arm healed and I grabbed Djinn with both hands. Screw the fatigue. I was on a personal vendetta to prove to myself that I could kill any creature in this shithole and one giant monkey with a tough skeleton was not breaking that streak.

  The beast swung again and this time I was prepared. Djinn's blade was elongated and azure, shining bright blue in contrast to the forest's green. I met the swing with one of my own and sliced the beast's arm off. As the limb tumbled down I heard the elves behind me gasp.

  The azure blade had been reduced in size, almost as if mere contact with the beast was sucking away my magic. No matter. Plenty more where that came from. I sliced again, this time along the ribs. I did not cut through bone, but the gash was deep enough to be mortal. Not waiting to see the results of my handiwork, I swung around the beast, jumped and latched onto its head. My legs found purchase on its back, using the black bones jutting out as footholds. I held Djinn in reverse grip, with the edge downwards and pointed straight at the beast's skull. The blade had returned to its regular size but still glowed bright blue. With a feral yell I stabbed it downwards, driving it into the beast's skull.

  It fell on the ground but I wasn't done. Still yelling in effort I sliced downwards, bisecting through the skull, spine and torso. The beast fell face forwards with its head and back split open. I sheathed Djinn and stomped on the monster's brain cavity, sending brain matter flying around. Can't regenerate if you don't have a brain to give out the right signals.

  There was a moment of stunned silence while the elves got back up. I ignored them, calmly grabbing my bow and an arrow. Mostly I just scanned the land for signs of more monsters.

  From behind me I heard the blond elf say something in his language. It had a lot of 'a's and 'e's and a bunch of sounds that I couldn't properly understand, let along replicate. So I ignored him. He took a step forwards, arms spread. I could feel his internal struggle—do I trust the stranger with some clear issues or do I use those nice bangles and fire off a spell?

  I quickly solved his dilemma before he could take a second step. I turned sharply, pulled my bowstring and aimed the arrow right in between his eyes. Whatever language you speak, everyone understands an arrow to the face.

  Legolas froze and stood very, very still. I glanced at the others. They too were motionless. I exhaled, focused on the blond and began what I hoped would become fruitful conversation.

  "What, in the fuck, are you?"

  Chapter 21

  My name is Erik Ashendale and I am not a people person.

  "Who are you?" I asked again. The petrified blond elf-looking guy in front of me trembled with eyes wide open as I got in close and almost shoved the arrow in his face.

  Legolas began saying something, which of course I did not understand and made me that much more irritated.

  "Great. Anyone here speak English? Anybody?"

  One of the two elves at the back took a step forward. I thought he was volunteering for a translation but then he turned and bent over to pick up the discarded robot head.

  "Hey!" I yelled. Legolas and the other dark-haired fellow said something, waving their arms to placate me but I wasn't having it. I couldn’t risk letting them get weapons or pull some weird trick.

  "Back off," I yelled again at the brown-haired elf. He gave me a worried look and repeated whatever Legolas had said five seconds earlier, all the while slowly bending over to grab the robot head.

  My arrow landed three millimeters away from his hand and panic took over the rest of the elves. I had already notched another arrow, pointing it at the blond's neck.

  "Next one will start the killing spree," I said.

  Legolas stepped in front of my shot.

  "Okay, Blondie," I said. "You're first to go if shit gets real."

  By now the brown-haired one was fiddling with the robot head. His bangles glowed the same color as the electrical veins in the robot's head. He began talking to the black-haired elf and I heard the word 'English' being thrown around.

  "English?" I moved slightly to get the other two elves in my field of vision and monitor them better. "Yeah, English is good."

  Finally the brown-haired elf looked up at me and said,

  "Excuse me."

  It wasn't a question. It seemed like he was just testing his newfound lingual abilities and seeing if I would react.

  Which I did.

  "Finally," I exclaimed. "Okay, let's start this over. Who the hell are you guys?"

  "Excuse me," repeated the brown-haired elf.

  "What the hell, buddy? Do you speak English or not?"

  And predictably: "Excuse me?"

  Hey, at least this time it was a question.

  Have you ever been in a situation where you really needed to talk to someone and they didn't speak the language? Now imagine that same position, only you had to go Tarzan for two weeks and the other people are elves.

  Freakin' elves.

  Before I could educate the three in front of me, or possibly just shoot them out of sheer frustration, the blond elf turned his head, ordered something and was handed the robot head.

  "So you're the leader, huh?" I stepped slightly back in case he got creative with that head. "Don't try anything stupid."

  He fiddled with the metallic implement, did a light show with the bangles and looked up at me.

  "We come in peace."

  "Are you fucking kidding me?"

  Legolas cocked his head. "No. I not kid. And I not fuck you."

  It would have been funny if I wasn't half-drenched in monster blood and starting to smell.

  "Who are you people?" I asked.

  The blond pointed at himself. "We are Vensir. You are not Vensir. What are you?"

  I lowered my bow. "I'm human."

  "You are not of this world."

  "Got that right."

  "And yet you can kill a Wild. How is this?"

  I pointed at the monster. "Wild? That what you call that thing?" The elf—or should I say Vensir—nodded. "Well, I ain't got a single clue as to how I survived in this shit hole."

  "You slay Ulgeki."

  "Say what now?"

  "Ulgeki," repeated the blond as he placed one index finger on his forehead and then pointed at the unicorn horns lying on the ground.

  "Oh, you mean unicorns. Sorry, I'm not up to speed on my Vensir to English dictionary."

  "Ulgeki are very hard to kill. Ulgethra even harder. Most special."

  "Lemme guess: white horse with two horns?"

  Legolas nodded.

  "It was tasty and delicious."

  The dark-haired elves gasped—who gasps anymore?—while the blonde's eyebrows shot up. "You eat Ulgethra?"

  I nodded.

  "That is amazing," he said astonished. "No Vensir has ever killed Ulgethra before."

  I shrugged. "I'm not Vensir."

  "No, you are not." The blond elf took a step forwards. "And yet you save Vensir from Wild. Why you do this?"

  "Man, I don't know," I replied exasperatedly. I looked at his big confused eyes and figured I might as well earn some points for human
ity. After all I am the first, and most likely last, man these people will see.

  Geez, that's just sad. Out of all people, I had to be our ambassador.

  "Where I'm from, if someone's down we try to help them up. Or at least we should. I guess it's in my nature to slay the big bad monster and save the little guys."

  "Then that is just like Vensir," said Legolas.

  "Yeah, we're peas in a pod," I replied sarcastically. "You know, if you were to take away the kinky ears and a couple of digits. And we do get bad hair days. Seriously, how do you do that? You guys must have some killer conditioner up in this joint."

  "I do not understand."

  "Don't worry about it. Just a joke," I said, waving him off. "So what now, Mr. Vensir?"

  He cocked his head to one side and pondered for a minute. "You are not Vensir," he finally said.

  "Yep," I interjected.

  "And yet you behave like Vensir. And you kill Wild to help Vensir."

  "We've already been over this, buddy."

  "Why are you here?"

  "Would you believe I was thrown in a portal by a crazy-ass angel and stuck here for god knows how long with no way to get out?"

  Apparently he did not believe it. Or perhaps he just didn't get it. Either way, Legolas just stared quizzically at me.

  "I am stuck here. I am looking for a way home. And something tells me over there is the answer," I said pointing at the giant obelisk in the horizon.

  The Vensir nodded. "That is a most important place in our city."

  "You have a city?"

  "Yes. We call it Citadel."

  "And that thing is inside of it?"

  "Yes. That is... how you say... Central."