by Daniel, Jake
I stretched her wing slightly and inspected her wound from the bolt. It almost seemed a lifetime ago now that she’d been struck. The tainted spirit was spreading within her, I could feel it. I held a hand to her heart, at the top of her breast, and she gave me a small smile. “I appreciate your concern, but I promise you, I’m okay. Let’s keep going.”
I nodded and turned back to the room. "Follow my lead." I jogged forward, as fast as my heel would allow, and jammed the pole deep into the lava midway between the solid rock where we were currently standing and the closest floating island.
I knew I'd be screwed if the floor underneath gave way, but was hoping to activate a Charge in midair if the opportunity presented itself. The pole stuck and I vaulted myself over to the island, falling less than gracefully on the opposite side and hard on my heel. I nearly vomited from the pain, but was able to push it back.
Mitsi looked at me skeptically and turned to the other girls. “Will you all do it with me? I’m a little scared.”
It seemed to be all the girls needed to fall in love with my newest bonded, and they all looked as if they’d been waiting for her to ask.
Gwen was the first to respond. “Of course! You’re part of our family now. Anytime you need us, we’ll be there.” She adjusted the pole in her hand and moved to the edge of the lava. The others joined her side, each holding one of the large poles.
I watched them as they lined up, all with rapidly churning spirit running through their bodies. Especially Gwen, Isobel, and Dahlia. I figured their increased spirit was because I’d been bonded with them longer than the others.
They took several steps backward and readied their poles. Mitsi closed her eye as she ran forward, opening it at the last second and planting her pole into the lava just as I had.
They all exchanged excited embraces as they made it safely to the opposite side. Everyone was cheering Mitsi on, and it was apparent the cyclops didn’t know how to react. I had to think she didn’t have many people cheering her on, if any, while she grew up.
We all took turns moving from island to island, and after several minutes we were able to make it all the way across. I had landed flat-footed on the last two islands and stretched my heel wound even further. The shirt currently wrapped around my heel was completely soaked with blood.
As we reached the final island leading to the door to the next level, the meteors of churning lava picked up speed and began crashing around us with more intensity. Along the wall were hand and footholds leading up. I knew we'd have to scale the wall in order to get out of this place alive.
I turned to the others who were attempting to catch their breaths. "Okay, we need to climb faster than we have ever climbed. If you see one of those balls of magma flying toward us, call out a warning and I'll do the same." We took up positions next to each other on the wall and began our climb.
Mitsi grabbed the bottom handhold and nodded, but as soon as we were both only a couple feet off the ground the lava began to bubble and slowly rose across the room as if a drain were backed up.
"Grab on!" I reached down and grabbed Mitsi's hand. She wrapped her fingers around mine and as soon as I had a firm grip I pulled her up. I nodded toward a handhold directly above us. "Up there, I'll be right behind." I ensured the others were well on their way up. Gwen was a natural climber, while I needed to provide Alysain a little support.
Jun looked up at me from her spot in my waistband. “Logan, I’m so sorry. I knew better than to try to come along. I… the tainted spirit is too strong.” Within a second she disappeared inside my pants and I felt her warm breath dancing across the tip of my cock as she stretched her mouth around as much of me as she could. I felt her naked body clinging tightly to my member as she lapped hungrily at my tip. I tried to push her advances out of my head as it was the last thing I needed as we scaled the wall, but I knew she couldn’t help it. I gave her body a quick adjustment and continued forward.
The lava had already risen at least a foot, growing more unstable as huge bursts of molten liquid shot high into the air. Several small splatters landed on my bare back and melted into my flesh. The smell made me gag. I pushed it out of my mind and climbed faster.
Jun moved faster and began to moan loudly. Each of the girls stopped climbing and gave me concerned looks. I shook my head. “Hurry, I’m fine. I’ll deal with Bug in a bit. We need to get to the top, now!” The lava was only a foot below me and bubbling up toward my heels. "Keep going, Mitsi, you're doing great." The words of encouragement seemed to really work with the cyclops, and I knew after the way that Cyprian had talked to her, that she hadn't been used to someone actually trying to encourage her instead of mentally berating her.
The handholds stopped and we had to shuffle to the right in order to reach the next ledge. As we moved across the wall the amount of lava in the room rose so high that the door we entered from was completely covered. We moved together, although Mitsi's shoulder was impacting how fast she was able to move.
The lava was only about six inches below us by the time we reached the next area where we could scale the wall. My fingers were screaming, and it was increasingly difficult to maintain my grip on the wall. The flaming rocks increased in frequency and criss-crossed above us as we climbed, several narrowly missing us and either continued into the wall behind us or smashed directly above or below us. I knew as soon as I heard a scream, we were not out of the woods yet.
Chapter Thirty
I used my last bit of energy to pull myself up on the ledge and spun around. I reached down and grabbed Alysain's hand right as she fell. She held on tight and I pulled her up next to me. The lava dropped and drained out of the room as soon as she reached the platform next to me. We all collapsed onto our backs and took several deep breaths.
"Good job. I’m proud of all of you." I reached into my pants and pulled the determined fairy queen off of my cock. “Jun, I apologize, but I’m going to need you to ride with Isobel for now.”
Isobel grabbed Jun and attached the fairy to her leather armor. “Stop squirming. It’s for your own good.” The wolf-kin finally succeeded in securing Jun to her chest and gave me a nod.
I tugged on Isobel’s armor to ensure the fairy wasn’t going anywhere. “I probably should’ve done that a long time ago. Okay, let’s keep going.”
My ankle continued to bleed, and now streaks of black were stretching from my ankle up my calf toward my knee. I looked over at Mitsi and shook my head as I caught a glimpse of her shoulder. It had turned almost black.
The cyclops glanced at my leg and then to her shoulder. "Logan?"
“It’s going to be okay, we have to keep moving.” I stood and helped her to her feet.
She staggered slightly and shook her head. "I feel... dizzy."
"Try to hang in there just a little longer. I'm going to need you to get through this Mitsi."
The cyclops straightened and nodded, the color from her face had all but drained. "For you, I will do this."
We hurried out of the lava room and reached the next set of stairs.
Dahlia stopped us and emptied most of the remaining salve on Alysain and Mitsi’s wounds. “Logan, I need to use some of this on your leg.”
I shook my head. “No, use it all on them, I will be fine.”
Dahlia sighed and shared a concerned look with Gwen but finished tending to the others first.
It took us longer to scale this set of stairs than any of the other floors. We entered the next room together and stepped into a massive grassy field. The walls disappeared in every direction. A small door stood by itself in the middle of the grass.
From where we stood it looked like it was about to be an easy path to get to the next level, but I knew better.
"Do you hear that?" Isobel said, holding a hand up to her fur-covered ear.
I held my breath and listened intently for what she may be hearing. “It sounds like scratching.”
Dahlia nodded and scanned the room. “I feel it. Something is coming thi
s way.”
After a few seconds I saw something pushing through the field in front of us. I watched intently and pulled out my knife. After what seemed to be an eternity the first creature burst through the tall grass. A diminutive white rabbit with a small set of antlers.
I immediately knew that Cyprian had to be pulling things from memories of my childhood, because there was no way in hell that I was staring at a real-life jackalope. Jackalope are a jack rabbit and antelope cross breed. Basically, back on Earth, some drunk bastard went out and shot himself a jack rabbit, and when he got back home he thought it would be fun to trick his wife and kids into thinking the beast was a real creature.
The small creature was joined by another, and then two more. Before long, we had an entire army of jackalopes facing us, baring their pointed fangs.
Mitsi stepped forward and leaned down to pet one of them. "Oh, they are so cute. I've never seen anything as precious... ouch!" As soon as she had placed her hand close enough, one of the creatures bit down on her hand and locked its jaw. Mitsi swung her hand wildly in the air and finally brought it screaming down to the ground killing the creature from the impact.
I gave her a small smile. "Still think they are precious?"
She gave me an embarrassed smile and returned her focus to the rabbits in front of us.
As if someone gave them a green light to attack, the colony of jackalopes rushed forward, each with their antlers pointed directly for our shins. As the first one arrived within striking distance, I did the first thing I could think of. I booted that son of a bitch as hard as I could. It squealed in pain as it disappeared into the distance.
My bonded and I kept each other close as we methodically took out waves of the rabid creatures. My boots were nearly falling off and the cut in my heel was throbbing more than ever.
Mitsi grabbed two of them by their antlers and began swinging them as melee weapons, taking out several of their friends immediately, and eventually swinging only their heads as the rest of their bodies had ripped off from the impact.
"We need to push forward, they’re just going to keep coming," I said and took out another three of the rabbits near my shins. We sliced our way through, leaving a path of blood and rabbit parts as we crossed the field. The doorway to the next level was nearly within reach, but before we could continue a massive wind swept over the field knocking us all off our feet and onto our backs. I rolled and attempted to stand but the wind was too strong.
We remained pinned for several seconds while all of the blood and gore was pulled toward the doorway to the next level, most of it dragged over our faces and bodies. I fought the urge to vomit as the smell of spoiled milk paired with piss and burnt leaves filled my nose.
These little beasts smelled much worse after they were dead than when they were living. A head rolled up over my body and sat perched on my chest, its dead eyes staring straight at me. After a second it was pulled along again rejoining the ever growing mass of fur, antlers, and body parts in front of the exit.
The wind finally died down and all of us remained on the ground. However, the hundreds of dead jackalope carcasses were gone. I was sure the others were as hesitant to get back up to their feet as I was. I finally decided to take a chance and stood. I helped Gwen to her feet and pulled a few stray pieces of fur and bloody meat chunks out of her hair. Mitsi helped the others to their feet and they brushed the remaining bits of gore away.
"That was interesting," I said.
"More like disgusting. Some of that stuff got in my mouth," Gwen said with a disgusted snarl.
I heard a sloshing sound on the ground near the door and saw the blood from everything we had just slain racing across the ground toward the massive ball of broken bones and fur. As soon as the blood stopped pouring in, the thing began to… breathe. It let out a long exhale and transformed in front of our eyes.
I reached for my gun, but as the monster continued to grow I knew that my rifle wouldn't do nearly enough damage to kill this thing. Two gnarled legs and arms grew out from the center, each made of bits and pieces of the rabbits we had slain. A sickening snapping sound rose as two long bone spikes, made from the antlers, appeared at the end of each hand. Finally, a disfigured outline of a head appeared and the creature stood motionless in front of us.
I sensed it was about to attack, and was thankful we had plenty of room to work with. I spoke under my breath to Mitsi. "If that thing moves, go in the opposite direction that I go."
She nodded and planted her feet in the ground with her eyes fixed on the grotesque beast standing in front of us.
I was sick of waiting for things to attack me. I decided I wasn't going to let this one have a chance to make the first move. I darted away from the others and the creature turned and lumbered forward toward me. I moved around it in a wide arc, keeping its attention focused on me. I closed my eyes and activated my Nature Manipulation skill. Chunks of earth and plants pulled up from the ground and surrounded my rifle. I maintained my focus, keeping everything else out of my mind.
When I opened my eyes I was pleasantly surprised to see that the war hammer I envisioned had actually appeared in my hand as an extension of my gun. I gave it a couple test swings and smiled. This was a game changer. I called out to the others as I ran back toward the hulking creature. "Watch out for the spikes on its hands!"
The women circled around the beast and ran toward its back while its attention was focused on me and we met the beast simultaneously. I jumped as high as I could and smashed my earth hammer hard into the side of its leg, taking a huge chunk out of it and hobbling it slightly.
It let out an otherworldly roar and fixed its eyes on me. A moment later Cyprian’s distorted voice came from its mouth. “Give up. You’re too late. Aurilon has fallen. A new reign has begun.”
“Never!” I responded and smashed my hammer down on its opposite leg.
Mitsi had gone for one of its arms, successfully ripping one of its bone swords away from its body. She readied the sword in her hand and ran back to where she had attacked to avoid the creature's wild swings.
A jagged mouth appeared in the center of the creature’s deformed head and it let out an otherworldly squeal. As if timed perfectly with its screech, thousands of undead jackalopes poured into the grassy field from every direction.
I stood in front of the beast, and as the rabbit creatures neared I closed my eyes. I could sense their spirit as they approached. I needed something big, and fortunately, I had just enough in my core to take care of that. I concentrated on all of the earth around us and the ground under my feet began to shake. I wasn't sure if it was because of the massive amount of rabbits rushing toward me or the energy from my core, but I figured it was probably somewhere in between. I kept my eyes closed and could see the outline of the spike-wielding zombie rabbit, or whatever the hell it was, readying another swing.
I yelled out, while focusing on all of the spirit in my core, twisting it together as much as I could. "Go through the door, now!” My voice came out with an otherworldly tone. The amount of spirit raging through my body was overwhelming. Gwen paused at the door for a brief second after the others had gone through. Her voice cut through my thoughts. “I love you, Logan.” A second later, I unleashed hell.
Chapter Thirty-One
As Gwen stepped through the door, I released my core. A massive shockwave erupted from my body. A chaotic mixture of tainted and pure spirit came out with enough force to blow a hole in the Rocky Mountains. Chunks of stone and rock exploded in all directions. Everything around me had been completely wiped out, including the nightmarish creature that was standing in front of me seconds earlier.
I staggered slightly from exhaustion of releasing that much spirit at once. My legs buckled and I fell to a knee. I was the only one left standing in the room, all signs of the others had disappeared.
Everything inside of me hoped that they had made it safely through the door before I went all human bomb on the place. I felt like someone had taken a
2x4 to my body. Blood poured out from several deep gashes on my arms and legs. I bent to pick up my rifle a short distance away. I was disheartened to see that it had been severely bent and rendered useless.
I gripped the gun tightly and walked toward the door. My grandfather had given me that gun. To say I was pissed that it had been damaged would be an understatement. My mind raced in every direction. I had to keep moving forward, I had to believe that the others made it to safety.
Throwing open the door, I exited out onto an overlook near the top of the tower. The sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon in the distance which meant that I was running out of time. I glanced over the stone railing and out at the water in the distance. I activated my Aspect of the Griffon, and after several seconds, I spotted our ship in the distance. I knew they had to be worried we had not arrived back yet. I just hoped that nothing had attacked them while they waited.
I pushed back from the edge and turned, immediately meeting the eyes of Luna. She had retaken her human form and was wearing a skintight dress that almost looked like it was part of her. “You’re almost there. Can’t give up now.” Her wavy dark violet hair fell down over her shoulders and her blood-red eyes focused on mine. She didn’t say anything else, but instead kept her eyes locked on mine and gave me a small smile.
“Where are they?”
Luna cocked her head. “They? Don’t you mean your brother?”
I realized in that moment my brother no longer mattered. At least not anywhere near how much my bonded meant to me. I tried to steady my breathing, which was no longer an easy task. “My bonded. I need to know that they are okay before I continue through this fucking tower.”
Luna laughed and shook her head. “Oh, calm down, your precious women are right around this corner. Thanks to me, of course. Although, I’m not sure what my brother will do when you enter the throne room with them.”