The spider dropped to the ground when Yerra destroyed the last bunch of stones holding its leg together. Yerra jumped on its head and looked straight into the spider’s inhuman eyes. Then he destroyed the spider’s left eye with a single fire punch. The spider tried to get up but failed. Yerra continued fire punching the spider’s other eyes. He didn't want the annoying lasers bothering him while he worked his way around the giant gargoyles.
When Yerra was done, he collapsed on the spider’s head, unmoving. He had lost all of his magic energy in the fight. Fire punches were good, but they also took a lot of energy out of him. Blood oozed out of his body from multiple wounds, and he felt battered and bruised everywhere. His opaque body holograph in his HUD turned almost dark red when he focused on it. The effects of the last magic potion had faded, and blood loss was causing him trouble. All he wanted to do now was to rest and forget everything else. It'd been years since someone beat him like this.
“How are you planning to beat the stone statue?” The AI asked.
“I don't know. Do you have any idea? Any spell that can save us both here?” This was by far toughest trial he had faced in his whole life. Trials with magical rooms had always been a piece of cake for him, but he had never faced a physical dungeon like this before. “I think I have to take half of the healing potion. If I don't survive, Talia is doomed. That’s out of the question. I won't let that happen.”
“Correct choice, Master. See, your intellect level is already improving after spending so little time with me.” The AI smirked.
Yerra swore to God, if he got his hand on the creator of this AI, he would definitely beat him for making the AI so quirky.
Who does that?
Yerra pulled the last potion from his backpack. Thanks to the rugged pack, the potion vial remained unbroken. Yerra gulped half of the vial’s contents, and vitality spread through his body like a heavenly touch. His readout in the HUD improved quickly, turning from red to amber and then almost green when the effects of the healing potion took over his body. He sighed with relief when the pain in his ribs vanished. The nanobots worked wonders in bone mending. Yerra was a strong believer in the magical side of the humanity, but if he had to choose one thing from the science side, he would have picked the nanite tech without blinking an eye.
“Let's do this.” Yerra jumped to his feet after ten minutes of rest. The room remained littered with rubble from the stone monsters. Seeing the corpse of the spider he, thanked the maker for making them dumb. But the stone gargoyles were tough. If only he had a physical defense system, he would have survived the whole encounter unscathed. Oh well. Nothing came easy in trials.
Yerra leaped toward the head of a giant gargoyle and hit it with his tier two fire punch. He was hoping to shatter it, but his punch only broke off a large piece of the stone head. Something was better than nothing.
Yerra soon wished he hadn’t awakened the giant monster. A single punch from the gargoyle flung him back into the rubble, setting his entire body on fire in the view of the HUD.
“That's it then. If you ever get out, AI, please inform my mother that I died with dignity and didn't just run off like others thought.” Yerra's hand dropped beside his body. The last thing he saw was the giant gargoyle moving in a blur. Death was on its way.
Chapter 10
A dragon—a mythical creature—hovered above him. A man in long robes sat on the creature. The man held a long staff which he was using to poke him.
“Master, wake up.” The man spoke in his AI's voice.
“What the…”
The man and the dragon vanished, and the AI came to life in front of his eyes. The holographic representation of his body in amber and red hovered next to the AI's face.
“Am I dead?” Yerra asked.
“No, Master. You won.” The AI smiled.
“Do you make jokes now? Reaper?” Yerra asked the invisible figure that was there to take him to the next realm, the realm of dead mages.
“Yes, I do make jokes. But who is Reaper? Are you calling me by that name now? Please, Sera sounded much better. Please reconsider your choice, Master.”
Yerra tried to smile, but the pain restricted his movement. Even the small movement of his lips made him gasp for a breath.
But why am I struggling to breathe? No one should be able to breathe once dead. Am I still alive?
There was no way. He couldn't have survived the final blow from the giant gargoyle. That fucking thing was too strong for him. One single blow took his body beyond recovery, and the next blow must have taken his life.
I can't be alive after that. This must be the hell mentioned in the Old Testament of the religious books. A punishment for every sin.
“Master, are you there? Or did you lose yourself again?” the AI asked.
“I know you’re not real. This is not real. Nothing is real. I'm merely in the world of ghosts. Can you let me sleep for a while?” He closed his eyes.
“Okay, Master.”
Then there was silence.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Master, wake up. It's been two hours already. How much more are you going to sleep?”
Yerra opened his eyes and the same HUD flared in his vision. The only change was the representation of his body in the HUD was faint green instead of red. “AI, is that you? Am I really alive?” Air whistled through a nearby open door. There was dust in his mouth. Maybe he wasn't dead after all.
“Finally! Thank God you’re back. I was scared you would keep calling me by that stupid name. Reaper.”
He was definitely alive. The AI was once again making silly jokes.
“How did I survive?” Yerra tried to get up. Surprisingly, he managed it, though a couple of bones in his legs crack like they were broken. “And how am I getting better? It shouldn’t be possible.” Warmth passed through his left leg, mending the broken bones.
“It's a short story. When the big stone gargoyle hit you, you leveled up at the same time. The level up destroyed the gargoyle and then I injected the remaining health potion into your body. Without that, you would have died of internal injuries. I wonder, though, why didn’t you bring more of those potions?”
That made sense. A level up for a fire mage always resulted in a strong physical force shooting outward from the mage’s body. That would have destroyed the stone statue, and that also explained the man on the dragon.
The Dragon rider must be a guardian.
People always told stories about meeting a guardian when they leveled up. But there was no proof of it, and Yerra himself had never experienced it before.
“Master, are you there?” the AI moved around his HUD.
“Do you know how rare potions are?” Yerra asked. “The whole palace only has twenty, and I used three on myself.” He wondered how his mother would react once she found out he’d stolen precious potions from her locker. He then realized what the AI had just said. “Wait, what was that? You injected that potion into my body? How?”
“Oh, that. Your level up brought some upgrades for me too.” the AI winked.
Yerra’s voice rose in irritation. “Upgrades? What kind of upgrades? And how did you inject the potion when I was lying unconscious?”
“I kind of leveled up when you did. I don’t know how or why, but my control over the armor increased to the point that I can move the armor along with your body at my will, but only for a few seconds. I'm sure that would improve given some time and practice.” The AI smiled with enthusiasm. “I wonder how it will feel when I can shoot a spell by myself.”
“What? What the fuck?” Yerra's brain swirled with unknown fear. An AI with control over his armor? His body? “No. This can't be happening. As you are bound to me, would you follow my words to the T?”
“As per the decree number 343 in the manual, yes. An AI installed in the armor has to obey its owner, no matter what the order is.”
“What decree and who made it?” Yerra struggled to understand. It was like the AI was speaking a foreign language.
“My maker, the one who implanted me in the armor.”
“Who was that? And in what timeline did you exist?” Yerra's brain went into overdrive. They knew nothing about the species that left these magical armors behind, and a talking AI might open those doors for humanity.
“I don't know, sorry.”
Yerra sighed in frustration. “Okay. While we wait for my recovery, listen and burn this rule in your brain. You’re not allowed to act on your own unless I'm dead, or unconscious like today, or in some very dire situation.”
I can't let the AI run wild contradicting my decisions.
“Roger that, Master,” the AI replied in a smooth natural voice. Her voice too seemed improved a little. She sounded more like an actual human girl.
Yerra waited for half an hour until his body color in the HUD turned solid green. He still felt pain, but it had improved a lot from his original condition. When he’d opened his eyes thirty minutes ago, he wanted to go and check on Talia, but the AI suggested he recover first. She said a body with all cylinders firing was better than going as a zombie. Well, she was correct. He might be encountering more troubles in the next room.
When he was ready, Yerra jumped to his feet. “Let's save Talia. And keep your perception spell on. I need every ounce of information you can gather on the surroundings.” Before moving forward, he shot a fireball into the middle of the room and saw two giant stone gargoyles still standing in the corners.
So, the bigger ones don't awaken others.
“Yes, Master,” the AI replied.
Yerra passed through the final door. As he expected, Patrick and Nela were waiting for him.
Chapter 11
P atrick looked like an actor out of that zombie streaming show.
Guess he has to be the zombie, because he’s been fucking dead for ten years.
There was no way he was the real Patrick. For starters, his eyes—they were blue when he was alive, but now they were black with dark liquid leaking out of the corners.
Yerra scanned the area. They were inside a huge room which could fit hundreds of stone giants. His main concern: Talia was nowhere to be seen.
“AI, scan—”
“Already on it, Master.” Her face disappeared from his HUD.
“Nela, you’d better come over here. Trust me, Sister, this thing is not Patrick,” Yerra said, with his eyes fixed on Patrick.
Nela laughed like a maniac from a cheap horror movie. “You don’t get it, brother. This was all my plan.” She growled and looked at Patrick. “I know who he is, and I took great effort to summon my brother back in this form. You have no idea what I went through in the last ten years. I lived for this day—when I would summon my brother back from the land of the dead.”
Yerra shivered. This wasn’t good. “Did you even look at that thing with open eyes? Look at his face. It looks like a rotten tomato, and his body… he can’t even stand properly.” Yerra wondered why the AI was taking so much of time to analyze this thing. She should have been done by now.
For a moment Nela’s eyes flicked in disbelief when she looked at Patrick.
“Don't try to deceive me. He is alive. I called him back. Do you know how much effort it took to steal the Crystal of Souls from the queen's locker?” A shadow of pain passed over her face.
“Isn’t that the same locker you stole your potions from?” the AI asked. “I guess your mother’s security measures are sparse. It seems like everyone is looting things from her. I’d better advise her myself, once we get back.”
“Now, really?” Yerra wished he had access to the AI physically. He would like to smack her face some day. “What about the scan?” Irritation leaked through his voice. Nobody should have been able to steal from his mother’s locker. Including him. He would talk with his mother once he got back.
If I survive.
“That thing is from the other side of the universe. It came out of the fourth dimension with a real soul,” the AI said.
Yerra sighed. “The Crystal of Souls. I’ve seen that in use, and trust me, Sister, the outcome wasn't good.” Yerra shivered at the thought of his fight with a baddy who used the Crystal of Souls.
Nela snorted with revulsion. “You’re a fool, Yerra. And if you think I would believe you—brother killer—you’re wrong. You are nothing but an imbecile.”
Yerra had enough. He had spent countless sleepless nights cursing himself for everything that’d happened ten years prior. But this woman was taking it to the next level, and awakening something from the dark side of the universe wasn’t acceptable.
“Listen, Nela. If you want to kill me then do it, but not before I wipe that thing out of existence.” Even as he spoke, Yerra looked around, continuing to search for Talia. “AI, any info on Talia?” he muttered under his breath.
“Strange. I’m getting her beacon signal from your sister’s clothes,” the AI said.
“Nela, where is Talia? Why is her beacon in your pocket?” Yerra asked.
Nela laughed again, and this time it was on the border of madness.
“Nela, answer me.” Yerra clenched his fingers in a fist.
Just after finishing with the crazy laugh, Nela stared into Yerra’s eyes, giving him a cold stare. “She is dead. And the irony is, I found Patrick’s clothes– the last thing I needed to bring him back—in the same room.”
Yerra knees went weak, and he dropped to the ground. “What do you mean she is dead?” he demanded.
“That fool somehow opened the sealed door of the temple beneath the palace. An opportunity I was searching for so many years.” Her body shook. “A shadow monster tore her apart, and then the same monster vomited Peter’s clothes.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I cried for Talia after killing that monster, but when I found Patrick’s belongings, I knew what I needed to do to bring him back.” I’ve had the Crystal of Souls in my possession for few days now. Talia's sacrifice gave me the missing tool.” She tossed a transmission beacon wrapped in a red cloth toward him.
It was his sister’s uniform. It had her name written on it. A ten-year-old girl, and that bitch let her die for own satisfaction. Yerra’s body flared with the brightest fire anyone would have seen in a century. The bitch would pay for her sins.
Chapter 12
Y erra zipped forward with intent to kill. He was going to finish the abomination. He couldn’t let it roam free on his planet.
But before he could reach Patrick, a dark tendril stopped him in his tracks, wrapping around his neck with a choking grip. Yerra tried to pry it away with his hands but failed as the tendrils overpowered him and tightened their grip around his throat. Then they began to slowly drain his magic, bit by bit.
“Master, I assume this is a qualifying situation.” His hand moved on its own and blasted the tendril hand with a tier three fire punch. The tendril snapped in half from the brute force of his punch. But at the same time, the blowback sent him flying away from Patrick. A second tendril swung at him, but he was already out of its reach.
Yerra remained on the ground, rubbing his neck. The tendril had nearly broken his neck and managed to suck out a quarter of his energy. He wasn't worried about the injury, it would heal, but energy sucking was worrisome. If he had spent a few more seconds in Patrick’s grip, he would have been kissing death by now. Thanks to his AI, he was alive. “Thanks, but never try that again. The knockback almost killed me.” His hand felt like some heavy vehicle had run over it.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you were that fragile,” the AI said.
His brows drew together, but he wondered if the AI could make anything out of his expression.
Nela laughed. “I told you, fool, you’re no match for my brother. You are dying here, tonight.”
Yerra jumped back to his feet, but his knees felt like they were made of jelly. The monster’s grip had left his neck muscles vulnerable and his body battered. Patrick grabbed his attention when four black tendrils came out of his torso. Patrick raised himself in the air wit
h these four new legs, his academy uniform torn as black spikes came out of his spine. He looked like a boy-spider with four legs out of some cheap horror movie.
Why does everything around me have to be a spider? Is that a theme or something today?
“Any new ideas, AI?” Yerra asked.
“I’m working on something. A new spell. But it requires preparation time.”
A spell that required time to activate. That intrigued Yerra. “Why?”
“The monster is sucking ambient magic into its core, inside its body. If we want to defeat it, we must break the core from inside. Even if you use the newly learned level nine spells, they won’t destroy the core from inside. We have to use the new spell that comes with the armor.”
Yerra had to believe the AI. “How much time you need?”
“Five minutes, and I hope you won’t mind fifty percent magic drain.”
“What the—” Before Yerra could finish, the AI disappeared along with half of his magic energy. “Whatever it is, it better be good.” Something came at him quick.
Yerra leaped, avoiding Nela's kick.
Nela withdrew, lips quirked in a cocky smile. She squatted and dashed forward with her hand behind her. Lightning blades formed in both of her hands. It didn’t matter which one struck him; either would work.
Yerra avoided her attack by jumping in the air. “It feels like old times, doesn’t it, Sister?” His heart broke even as he said it. He remembered the friendly fights they used to have with each other. She was his sister, after all, and he loved her. Yet here they were, trying to kill each other. For a moment, Yerra just wanted to quit and die in peace, but the corruption of her heart was far beyond any redemption. He had to capture her alive and let the council decide her faith
Nela stopped in her tracks and threw her blades at him.
Yerra changed direction using flash step in mid-air and dodged her blades.
Nela vanished and teleported beneath him. She pulled her dagger out of her hair and slashed it upward. Yerra once again used flash step to change direction and landed at a safe distance.
Crystal of Souls_Fire Mage_Star Mage Novella Page 5