DING!
Congratulations! You have defeat a Pack of Tortured Wraiths (Level 25). Reward: 15000 XP. Reward: Mage’s restoration potion (x3).
DING!
You have obtained a new item: Mage’s restoration potion (x3). This potion is specialized for mages specializing in one or more of the magic Arts and heals back a part of one's Health and Mana. Do you want to transfer the item to your item inventory?
I tapped on the ‘Yes’ option beneath it and the screen dissolved away.
“Zoran,” Freya called out to me, standing close to the wall on my left. “We need to keep moving.”
I nodded and walked up to her, noticing immediately that there was a small entrance embedded beside her in the stone wall. It was about only three feet tall, so very small, however I felt like we could still fit in if we tried.
“Do you want to go through?” I asked, a little suspicious of where it led to.
“We don’t really have another option,” the moon elf said. “This is the only entrance in here.”
“That’s true,” I said. I thought for a second, trying to see if there were any other options I could take, but found none. “Fine,” I finally said. “Lead the way then.”
The elf nodded and passed through entrance, walking into the dark pathway. I followed her, crouching down and making sure I didn’t hit my head against the ceiling.
“That wraith attack was not something random,” Freya said as we walked, her voice echoing against the walls.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “There’s no way that many of them just happened to find us. Even if we so happened to be next to the source of their….creation,” I said, thinking silently about the sacrificed bodies.
“Somehow I feel like it’s because of your Death Seal,” she said, bending down a bit to go under a small downward bump in the roof.
“You think they’re all being drawn to it?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said.
I stayed silent, acknowledge that that made sense, but not knowing what that resulted in. We took a few more steps forward and exited the tunnel, finding ourselves standing in another room.
The stench of blood hit me immediately, pungent and repulsive. Freya’s light orb moved a bit so that it hovered out in front of us. I could see that we were on some kind of ledge with a high metal railing at the edge in front of us. I walked up to it and peered over, looking down at the ground below.
The light from the orb didn’t illuminate the ground much, but I could still see what was down there.
More death.
Bodies lay all over the ground, no longer in piles but spread all over the floor. I could see marks of red in the spaces in between, signs of all the blood that was spilt.
“They’ve been sacrificed too,” Freya whispered.
“These dead bodies aren’t of people from the Dark Alliance are they?”
“I doubt it,” she said. “As far as I could tell they were mostly adventurers and villagers. They probably wandered into the ruins and got trapped by the Dark Alliance or the Phantom Lord, whoever was waiting for them.”
“Why is all of this happening?” I asked. “Why do they need so many sacrifices? This is already more than two hundred people, and there could be a ton more similar places in here for all we know.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I honestly don’t know what they need these many sacrifices for. But I can tell you for certain that it isn’t something good.”
“That much is obvious,” I said. “I’m just confused about what all of this means.”
“Same here,” she said. “I honestly don’t-”
She froze up, her eyes widening.
“Freya?” I leaned closer.
“There’s a man alive down there,” she rushed to the edge of the ledge we were on, her face flush against the metal railing.
“What?” I pumped after her, my eyes scanning the ground beneath us and seeing a lone form moving through the bodies. “How on earth is he still alive?” I asked.
It looked nearly impossible for one man in a pack of hundreds to be alive when every other one had been carefully taken care of.
“I don’t know,” Freya backed up, her eyes fixed to the railing.
“Freya?” I asked.
The elf ran across the stone floor and jumped into the air without as much as another word.
“Wait!” I yelled as she sunk down onto the surface. It could be a trap, I thought, but it was too late now. The elf was already on the floor.
Dammit, I cursed. I put my hands out. “Okris,” I said, casting a hot flame onto the railing and melting the metal to form a hole for myself. I jumped through, rolling onto the floor as I dropped to the ground.
“Ugh,” I mumbled as I stood onto my feet, my shoulder a little sore from the force of the fall. I quickly ran up to Freya, reaching her just as she approached the man. It took him a few seconds to notice us, but when he did, his eyes changed.
“I’m sorry!” he yelled, covering his face with his hands. “Please don’t hurt me,” he begged, pain and terror dripping from his voice.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Freya said, still standing at a distance from him. “What…happened here?” she asked.
The man slowly straightened up, kneeling on the ground. “Those men,” he said. “They did this. To everyone. My comrades,” he rambled, clearly not in a proper state of mind.
“What men?” she asked. “Do you know if they were from the Dark Alliance?”
The man froze up. “The alliance,” his eyes went bloodshot at the very mention of the word. “They’ll kill me!” he clasped his head, his sanity going for a run. “Please,” he begged. “Help m-”
His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground.
Dead.
“My, my,” a voice chuckled. “Quite the active sacrifice isn’t he?”
My mind instantly registered the tone, and unease spread through me. I turned around, seeing an unpleasantly familiar face, a scar ridden on its left cheek. “Asterion,” I muttered.
“Hello again, Eternal,” the man of the Dark Alliance stood in front of me, a proud grin on his face. A band of men in dark cloaks stood right behind him, swords at their sides and daggers in their hands.
“It is quite nice to see you once again,” Asterion said.
“Can’t say the feelings are mutual,” I muttered.
He laughed. “You’re quite the character, Zoran,” he said.
“High praise coming from a mass murderer.”
I felt Freya’s hand on my back and I could tell she was trying to calm me down. She was right. I was getting too agitated from just being in Asterion’s presence.
“My offer from before stands, Eternal,” he said, a wide smile on his face. “Join the Dark Alliance and we will leave you alone.”
“That again?” I muttered. “I told you already. You’re wasting your time if you think you can make me join your Alliance.”
Asterion’s expression changed, not as though he was surprised, but as though he was finally getting serious. “I would choose your next words wisely if I were you, Zoran,” he said, his tone threatening. “They will determine what happens to your life.”
A sense of unease washed through me but I didn’t let it deter my words. “If you think you can threaten me like this, then you’re just fooling yourself.”
“If you are rejecting my offer because you wish to join the Alliance of Light, then I will say this,” he paused. “They are no better than we are.”
I paused for a moment, wondering what he meant by that, but did not question it. Now was not the time.
“I will not join any Alliance,” I said, my voice stern. “I do not want to join the Dark Alliance because of the Dark Alliance, not because of you or the Alliance of Light or anything else.”
“Careful, Eternal,” Asterion muttered.
“Else what? The leader of the Dark Alliance is going to come after me?”
He stood silent.
Annoyance ran into my mind. “You know what, let the leader of the Dark Alliance come after me,” I said, “Let this Emperor of Dargonia show up for once. What is he doing sending his henchmen to come after me all the time. Is he too scared to face me? Is that why he’s sending the likes you to come talk to me?”
Asterion broke into laughter. “See that’s where you’re wrong, Eternal,” he glared at me, a haunting look on his face. “I do not work for the Emperor of Dargonia,” he smiled. “I am the Emperor of Dargonia.”
***
CHAPTER TWENTY
He’s the Emperor of Dargonia, my mind echoed, as if in jest of my confusion. He’s the Lord of the Dark Alliance.
Both those titles implied only one thing to me. Asterion was going to fight me now, and I had a strong hunch I was ridiculously underpowered for such a battle. I quickly analyzed the men in front of me, taking maybe half a second tops to get through each one.
I really wish I hadn’t.
Asterion’s minions were strong, about Level 160 each, similar to the Elite Squad from the Alliance of Light. Asterion himself was a godly Level 435, as expected of the Lord of the Dark Alliance.
That doesn’t sound good, I panicked.
“Staying silent I see,” Asterion grunted, a grin on his face.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I smiled.
“I was nice to you previously, Zoran,” he said. “But unfortunately, that will not be the case this time.”
The men around him mobilized, surrounding me in a flash. Freya immediately grabbed my hand, heat surging from her palms and into mine.
“Hold on,” she whispered. “I’m gonna-”
A blast of darkness came out from behind me and thudded into her, sending her straight into the clutches of one of the dark dressed men.
“I won’t fall for that twice,” Asterion said, sparks of black energy still coming out of his index finger. “No portals this time, so stop trying to summon them.”
Dammit, I cursed, turning around to face Freya. The men immediately moved, a few of them putting themselves between me and the man who held the moon elf.
“Uh uh uh,” Asterion wagged his finger, acting like I was a little kid making a mistake. “She’s not going to be helping anybody with anything.”
I clenched my fists. “What are you going to do with her?”
“Well,” he said. “It’s very clear that you’re fine with doing something outrageous and getting yourself killed. However,” he grinned. “Would you still do the same outrageous things if your life wasn’t the one in the balance?”
I turned around only to see the man holding a sword up to Freya, the blade only a few inches from her throat. She stretched away from it, an instinctive reaction to being threatened.
I looked at Asterion. “Don’t you dare hurt her,” I grit my teeth, not afraid to show my anger on my face.
“Simmer down,” he chuckled. “I’ll give you the exact conditions you need to keep up if you don’t want any of us hurting her,” he paused, as if waiting for dramatic effect. “Just do what we ask you to and she’ll be fine. But if you don’t…I can’t make any guarantees those arms and legs are going to stay on her for long.”
I stared at him, annoyed at how quickly he’d been able to flip my mind. Or rather force it into subjection. Then again, I wasn’t that surprised he had gone this route. It was the only one left open to him if he actually wanted me to follow his instructions.
I knew I had no other options open to me right now and so I gave in. “What….do you want me to do?
“It is quite simple,” he smiled. “Join the Dark Alliance and I will let both of you go.”
I grit my teeth. “Why are you so adamant about this?” I raised my voice. “I’m not even that good of a bargain. I’m just Level 20. Is that the kind of person you’re fighting this hard for?”
He smiled. “I have my reasons, Eternal.”
I stared at him, anger coursing through me. Reasons, I muttered in my mind, annoyed even more by his choice of words. However, I quickly calmed down, knowing that the situation required that I did. Right now I had to choose between Freya’s life and joining the Dark Alliance. Not a good position to be in.
I looked at the men around me. I was far too weak to beat up any of these guys, and I was a quite certain Freya’s seal was still at a stage where it couldn’t be broken either. So for the moment, we were completely under the mercy of these men.
Damn this situation, I clenched my fists, my rage confusing me. I felt my bones rattle within my body, lasting half a second and disappearing the next. I blinked, unsure of what had that was.
And then it happened.
A surge of shadows exploded from the ground, not shadowy men like the Valdar, but raw, animated cutouts of darkness. They rose from the surface, charging onto the men around me in an instant. The men all panicked and attacked the shadows with spells, only to have them pass through their bodies without as much as a scratch.
“Lord Asterion!” a few of them backed away, panic in their voices.
I had no clue what the hell was going on but it was working in my favor so I wasn’t complaining. I used the split-second distraction and immediately charged towards Freya, grabbing her wrist and tugging her away in one flash. The man who was supposed to watch her tried to come after me but I had the advantage here. I put myself between him and Freya and held the elf close to me. If anyone wanted to get to her, they’d have to kill me, and that was something none of them were going to do.
The shadowy men contorted and changed form once again, now more three dimensional than two. Their hands morphed to have sharper ends like talons and they clawed at the enemy, sending them panicking away. A few of the men stood their ground, but lasted less than a few seconds against the shadows.
I watched in utmost surprise as the dark forms crushed into the men, sending all their HP gauges back down to zero. I blinked, What the heck? I thought.
“Zoran, what are you doing?” Freya whispered from right behind me.
“I have no clue,” I said, my eyes immediately searching for Asterion and locking on the man concealed within the circle of men in front of me.
“What did you do, boy?” the Emperor of Dargonia grunted, his voice going to its deadliest tone yet. He was definitely not playing around anymore.
I tightened my grip on Freya’s hand. “I did absolutely nothing,” I said. “You saw me. I cast no spells, spoke no words. Didn’t even open my Ga’em. How could I have caused all that?”
“Don’t play cheeky with me!” Asterion yelled.
Shadows immediately swarmed the man, all of them tugging and clawing at it him harshly. He flailed about, trying to get rid of them like a thorn in his side.
And that was the distraction I needed.
I used my Flame Charge to activate an Agility boost and Freya did something similar to get the boost too. We charged as fast as we could, heading straight away from Asterion and the others.
“Get them!” I heard Asterion yell, his voice growling in rage. He seemed more animal than human at the moment, and that was definitely a good reason to leave. I picked up the pace and charged away. I quickly noticed a rubble-covered entrance within the room, the path through it as dark as everything else around it.
“That way,” I hushed to Freya and kept going, running straight to it.
I heard a word uttered behind me, the tone that of an angered man. A shiver ran down my spine and without as much as glancing back I immediately dived to the floor, bringing Freya down with me. A blast of energy served over and smacked into the wall, creating a bigger opening than before.
“NO!” Asterion yelped as he realized where we were headed to. “Someone stop them! He can’t reach that room yet!”
Yet? I thought. What?
I heard men chase after me, stopping almost immediately after. I turned around, noticing that more shadowy men had come up as well, all of them standing dominantly between me and the men of the Dark Alliance.
I don’t know why you’re helping me, but thank you, I thought silently as I ran through the gap inthe wall. I took my first two steps and immediately felt a tug on my arm. “Zoran, wait!” Freya yelled, but it was too late. My momentum carried us forward and I looked to the ground to make my third step.
But it was gone.
We toppled forward and surged down through the air, dropping deeper into the ruins once again. Freya grabbed onto me with one hand and pointed her other one down, summoning a ball of light first. It surged through the air beneath us and I looked as it bathed the surroundings in light. But I could see nothing but the empty air, the surface lost deep beneath us.
Seconds passed and our fall got faster but we still weren’t seeing any ground. It was just when I was starting to get worried that the images of a ground emerged from beneath us. Freya immediately put down her hand, summoning a wind spell and using it against the surface to slow us down.
When we finally hit solid ground, my heart was beating fast and my face was plastered with sweat. That had not been a good experience.
My eyes glanced up, only this time I saw nothing but darkness. We’d gone far too below to even find any light from above. I turned around, trying to see if I could use Freya’s light to make some things out.
And that’s when I saw it.
A giant crystal of a bluish hue, the object standing a few feet in front of us. It grew nonchalantly from the ground, its complex shapes reflecting off its inner glow in ghastly undertones. The mildest of humming reverberated from the crystal, leaving me confused more than ever.
“What is that thing?” Freya whispered.
“A Kronos Crystal,” I whispered on reflex. “Wait what?” I blinked, unsure of what that was or why I even knew about it.
DING!
Congratulations! You have completed the quest: The mysteries of the Self IV! You have found the mysterious presence that Wizard Krof sensed within the Heartfelt Ruins. Reward: 50000 Sol.
The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1) Page 20