by Kira Wilson
Jessica couldn't tell if word of their presence spread or if there were no monsters near the river, but the group was left alone for the next hour.
The moon was high in the sky when she pointed to the west. A grim cloud bank blotted out the stars on the horizon. "Perfect time for a storm," Lucas muttered. "If we move quickly, we should be able to reach the hills before it hits."
David stared at the sky, unmoving.
"Bro? Come on. Watching the clouds isn't gonna make them go away."
"David?" Jessica grasped his wrist to get his attention and froze. His pulse hammered beneath her fingertips.
"Not again," he whispered.
Lightning flashed in the distance, and thunder rolled across the sky, loud enough she had to cover her ears.
"Get under the trees," David yelled. "Now! Find cover and get low. It'll be on us in seconds."
Jessica saw what he meant. The roiling clouds moved unimaginably fast, surging like a tidal wave and roaring with rising intensity.
They ran for the edge of the forest and split up to hide, staying within sight of each other. A gale tore past, howling over their heads and ripping branches from the trees.
"Get ready," David shouted over the wind.
The Storm broke over them. Jessica ducked under a tree root and plugged her ears. All around her, blazing spears of light shattered the ground. Thomas threw himself flat against another tree, barely dodging a bolt. Lucas broke cover and dashed to David's tree, clearly terrified.
As quickly as the Storm had come, it passed them by. One by one they emerged and checked on each other. Luckily, no one had been injured. Several blackened lumps lay scattered about where lightning had ripped code fragments from the environment.
David released a nervous breath. "That could have been a hell of a lot worse."
"Was this similar to the one that struck before?" Thomas asked.
"To a degree. The other was larger, and I was in the air when it hit. Without cover, they're a real nightmare."
Jessica saw movement out of the corner of her eye. An enormous creature with matted black fur slunk from behind a tree: a dreadwolf. It growled at her, revealing rows of glistening teeth. Sitting back on its haunches, it let loose a full throated howl. More dark figures approached behind it.
David stepped in front of her. "I'll deal with the two on the right." His staff-head began to glow. "This looks like it will be rough."
Jessica nodded and moved away, drawing two of the larger beasts away from David. "Thomas, keep the front wolf busy," she said. "Lucas and I will take its fellow."
Quickly Thomas sheathed his greatsword, unstrapped the shield on his back and drew a longsword. He gave a holy battle cry to strengthen the party and leapt forward.
The beasts attacked David first. They dashed at him from the trees, and he barely got his spell off in time. A pit of thick mud opened under their feet, miring them in sludge.
The pack-leader flung itself against Thomas's shield, forcing him backward. Jessica cast a quick resilience enchantment on him and fell back to gain distance on the final wolf. Lucas flicked his twin scimitars at it, opening several wounds. Enraged, the beast snapped at him, only to be impaled by Jessica's holy arrow. It gave a short whine and fell to the ground, dead.
One of David's wolves broke free from the mud and sprang at him with fangs bared. Blue fire streamed from the mouth of his staff and ignited the creature's fur. It howled and rolled on the forest floor, trying to extinguish the flames. Lucas rushed to the thrashing beast and severed its head with a clean stroke.
Jessica turned to the snared wolf. She loosed an arrow before the mud dissolved, then raised a holy barrier in front of her. The creature slammed into the shield and slumped down, dazed. A lance of magical ice tore through its body, pinning it against a tree. She gave David a quick nod and ran to aid Thomas.
Only the pack-leader remained. Thomas had scored several wounds, but they were mere scratches in the beast's gnarled hide. Noting the party's approach, he struck with his shield, bashing the wolf repeatedly on the snout. The creature snarled in fury and slammed its body into Thomas's shield, sending it flying. He struck at the exposed head, but the beast ignored the blade and sank its teeth into his shoulder. Lucas dashed behind the wolf, slicing the tendons in its hind legs as David launched a kinetic blast that hurled the creature away. Jessica channeled her power into Thomas, sealing his wounds, and launched a spear of holy fire to help drive the beast back. With a shout, Thomas drew his gleaming greatsword and focused his power into the blade. An immense beam of light leapt from the sword into the maddened wolf. It erupted in pure flame, and a pained howl was all they heard before the creature vanished in smoke.
The battle was over.
Even Thomas was breathing heavily from exertion. Despite her fatigue, Jessica savored the thrill of victory. Suddenly a gasp from Lucas broke the calm. He pointed at the corpses of the fallen wolves. The group watched as they dissolved into puddles of ooze, flowed together in a formless mass, and merged into a single great sphere of darkness. The globe rose above them, and faint traces of electricity crackled over its surface.
The ground trembled. Slowly, a massive gray shape grew inside the swelling orb. It sheared through the black liquid with scythe-arms edged in diamond. Dark material dribbled down the scaled body and fused itself into a muscular tail. The monstrosity towered over their heads, extended a needle-toothed jaw, and shrieked.
There would be no running from such a horror. As one, the party prepared for battle.
Chapter 6
"What the hell is that thing?" Lucas yelled.
The monster roared and sliced through a clump of trees. David ran to protect Jessica, but Thomas reached her first. He wrapped his arms around her as the falling trunks crashed against his armor.
David ground his teeth and leapt back when the creature struck at him. Its bladed arm tore chunks of dirt from the ground. "It must have been the Storm," he shouted. "The code is mutating and acting on its own."
"If a battle is what it desires," Thomas said, hefting his greatsword, "then that is what it shall receive."
The monster hoisted its snakelike mass to tower over them. With a fierce battle cry, Thomas charged the exposed underbelly and scored a jagged cut. Shrieking, it slammed its body down, knocking him to the ground. It raised its bulk again and prepared to crush him, but a silver arrow exploded against it before it could fall. Dazed, it crouched and hissed at Jessica. Thomas rolled away and got to his feet.
David hurled a salvo of icy spears, but they shattered on the creature's scales. It turned away from Jessica and lashed out at him with both razor scythes. He raised a wall of barrier energy before the blades struck, but the shield fragmented on impact, throwing him backward. He rolled away from another slash and ducked behind a tree. On the other side of the monster, Jessica's normal arrows bounced harmlessly off its hide.
"This is impossible," she fumed. "Something like this should only exist in the deep dungeons of Eternity." One of her arrows sank between the creature's scales, eliciting a screech of rage. "It's completely against the rules of the module!"
"You can try and talk it out of here if you want," Lucas retorted, "but I don't think it's gonna listen."
The monster advanced on David. "It seems resistant to magic," Thomas shouted. "Fall back, David." He charged it from behind, swinging his greatsword with all of his strength. The blade tore into its tail, and the putrid flesh parted with a spray of black ichor. Shrieking, it whipped its head around. Its eyeless gaze pierced him with a malevolent will. Twisting its wounded tail, it wrenched the blade from his grip, drew back and slammed his chest, hurling him into a tree. The creature focused its attention back on David, opened its maw and roared.
With a wild cry, Lucas dashed toward its head and swung both scimitars in a high arc. They bit into the soft flesh of its throat. Gurgling, it swatted him away with the flat of its scythe-blade. He sprang to his feet, ducked under the monster's arm and attacke
d its plated shoulder.
David refused to back down. He cast any spell that came to mind. Fireballs, lightning bolts, ice spears, all of it fizzled impotently on the creature's scales. This was ridiculous. Nothing he'd ever encountered was this impervious to his abilities.
Jessica chanted an incantation at Thomas. He had recovered and drawn his longsword. As she completed her blessing, his blade shone with silver flame. While the monster was distracted trying to dislodge Lucas, Thomas easily lacerated its side. David glared, envy boiling inside.
The creature bucked, and Lucas tumbled into a clump of bushes. It dug both blades into the dirt, heaved its body, and slammed heavily against the ground. The impact knocked everyone off their feet.
Ripping a scythe free, it turned and sank the blade deep into a tree. Slowly, the tree turned black and shapeless, flowing across the monster's body and sealing its wounds. Dismayed, the group backed away.
"Okay, that's it." David jumped to his feet, anger and frustration coursing through him. They could continue bashing their heads against this thing and waste even more time, or he could end this. Now.
He accessed his wrist computer, disguised as a bracer for this realm, and brought up the character loading program. Selecting his new avatar returned a 'restricted' warning, but he launched a bypass command and overrode the module.
Daveth the Sorcerer vanished in a flash of light. In his place appeared an angry, titanium-plated space marine.
Let's see how this thing handles Rex.
A visor lowered over David's eyes, and he raised his adaptive assault rifle. Program command: weapon shift, function: ion railgun, ammunition: energized kevlinium slugs, execute. The rifle transformed, the barrel lengthening as charging cells folded out along the sides.
Roaring defiance, the creature lashed out with both scythes, but the blades shattered on David's phase shield. He growled and let loose a full spray from his devastating weapon. The accelerated spikes ripped through the monster's hide. Screaming in pain, it tried to absorb another tree, but a final volley perforated its maw. It fell, thrashing, and he finished it off with a plasma charge. The explosion blasted pieces of the creature all around the broken clearing.
The fragments landed with a wet squelch, losing their form and reverting to dark ooze.
David wiped a dribble of quivering code material from his face but was surprised when it shocked him, causing his shoulder to flare up briefly.
He turned around and found the rest of the party staring at him in shock. Lucas gaped openly at him. "Dude, so not cool. We would have had that thing!"
"Can we move on now?" David snapped.
Jessica pierced him with an angry stare. Too late, David realized he had screwed up. Before he could open his mouth, she tapped a button on her bracer and disappeared.
***
Thomas watched Jessica exit the module and sighed when she was gone. Lucas rounded on his brother. "Way to nub it up, bro. What was the big idea?"
David stared at the spot Jessica had just occupied; he seemed unsure how to react in the wake of her absence. He glanced at Thomas.
Thomas tried to offer a reassuring nod. "I think I know where she is. I'll go talk to her. It will likely take some time though."
David got the message: their excursion for the evening was over. He clenched his jaws and frowned, then lowered his head in acceptance. "Tell her I'll be at home if she wants to chew me out properly." With a regretful gaze, he logged out.
Lucas shook his character's fiery tresses. "Well, that royally sucked."
"I'm inclined to agree. I don't know how long I'll be talking Jessica down, but I'd be up for a raid on Kuroon's Cavern later if you're looking for something to do."
"I thought you had a match coming up soon?"
"No, the game against the Warbringers isn't until next week."
"In that case, ring me when you're done. I think I'll go work on my own module for a bit." Lucas waved and faded away.
Thomas gave a final glance at the inert remains of the code beast and tapped his gauntlet. Slowly the surroundings dimmed and were replaced by a connection platform. A gatekeeper appeared at his side. "Destination?"
"Transmit message to Celas's cottage. Request access."
"Awaiting reply." The gatekeeper's eyes closed. While waiting for Jessica to respond, Thomas exchanged his adventurer's gear for something more casual. He considered and decided not to keep his longsword. It wouldn't do him any good in the coming confrontation.
A minute passed, and the gatekeeper's eyes opened. "Permission granted. The way is open." The gatekeeper dispersed, forming a doorway to an ancient moonlit forest. With a determined sigh, Thomas stepped through.
Jessica's cottage was nestled between the roots of two towering oaks. The front door was open, but apart from flickers of firelight, Thomas couldn't see anything inside. He approached the threshold and paused. "Jess?"
"By the fireplace," she answered.
Thomas steeled himself, and stepped inside. Immediately he noticed Jessica pacing. She had unbraided her hair, and it swirled about wildly, mirroring her mood. Her brown eyes, normally so warm, glittered with frustration.
"Can you believe the nerve?" she exclaimed. "Sometimes he can just be so, so…" She released an aggravated growl as words failed her. "If he was in such a hurry, why did he even bother to invite us?"
Thomas nodded silently. He knew that any words from him at this juncture would only compound the situation. Slipping into a chair, he watched Jessica stalk back and forth.
"This was supposed to be an adventure for all of us!" she continued. "An epic journey to find a mysterious land. And despite everything that happened, we were succeeding. Even with that abomination, the four of us facing down something like that, we would have won. Did you notice he didn't even apologize for what he did?"
Jessica gave a sigh of annoyance, finally stopping in front of the fireplace. She crossed her arms. "She had better be worth all this," she whispered.
The bitterness in her voice surprised Thomas. He tried to look at her face, but she kept it concealed. Mind racing, he finally put words to his thoughts. "You don't approve of this Analara?"
Jessica jerked her head up, and a slow flush crept over her cheeks. "I, well…" she floundered. "How could I disapprove of someone I've never met?" She turned away and lowered her gaze to the floor. "It's just I've never seen him like this. Not since we were in grade school together. Back then, he would have moved mountains for me if I'd asked. And now, someone else is…"
Pondering, Thomas tried to discern what was really bothering Jessica. David's feelings for her had always been obvious, though she had never encouraged them to Thomas's knowledge. He could see how David would have eventually stopped displaying them openly. But if Jessica had never wanted her relationship with David to go any farther, why would she object to his interest in someone else? Shouldn't she be happy for him?
Thomas got up from the chair and approached her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "What's really the matter, Jess?"
She turned slowly, the firelight reflecting from the tears in her eyes. "I'm losing him, Thomas, and it makes me sad. I never wanted things to be like that between us, but until I met you, he was the one constant in my life. The only person who I knew cared about me no matter what I did. But if he finds someone else then…" She closed her eyes, afraid to finish the sentence.
Thomas couldn't bear it any longer. Without a second thought, he wrapped his arms around her, wishing he could take her sorrow upon himself. "Jess, I haven't known him as long as you have, but I am a good judge of character. Even if he found love with another, he would never stop caring for you. Of that I am certain."
Jessica buried her head in Thomas's shoulder. "I know. I've just had him to myself for so long, there's a part of me that doesn't want to let go." She snuggled deeper into his arms. "I have feelings of my own that I've kept in check for a long time to avoid hurting him. So when he started to move on without me, it stung." She sniff
ed. "Now I feel like I'm just holding him back."
Thomas's heart was torn. He held her close and thought about what she had said. Feelings of her own. He wanted to reveal his own secrets, but he had vowed to himself not to do anything to come between her and David. It was becoming clear that she and David weren't meant to be together, but was there someone else? He had no choice but to ask.
"What is it that you want, Jessica?"
She turned her head up. "I want David to be happy, and to never forget about me. And…" She took a step back and wiped away her tears. She looked resolved, as if she'd just made up her mind about something. "I want to be with you, Thomas. I've wanted that for a long time. I couldn't say anything before, but now that David is moving on, perhaps I can finally follow my own heart." She looked at Thomas hopefully.
A smile spread across his face. "My lady, my heart has been yours for longer than I could express. Your happiness, my only thought or concern. If I am what you have wished for, you needed only to ask." Taking her hand, he raised it to his lips and kissed it.
Jessica embraced him. "My beloved knight."
Thomas held her for some time, as the fire crackled softly. A question came to mind that could not be put off any longer and with a sigh, he let her go. "I am concerned about what may happen if things do not work out for David. What would we do? I know you don't wish to see him hurt. Nor do I."
She thought briefly before responding. "Perhaps it would be best if we kept things between us secret for now. We can't take back what we've said here, but the others don't need to know just yet." Smiling, she took Thomas's hand. "We shall just have to see how things turn out."
***
David had trouble sleeping that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he replayed the events of the day. Emotion welled up inside him despite his struggle to keep it suppressed. Frustration with failing to find Analara. Disappointment with himself for hurting Jessica.