by KJ Harlow
Cist’s pep talk did make him feel better, but the conversation with Keizen weighed heavily on his mind. Kai had joined them. His eyes became wide when Cal told them about the Elder werejaguar’s prophecy.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Kai asked.
“To be honest, I’d just forgotten about it. Keizen only raised it when we spoke the other night.”
“She’s right, though. The prophecies don’t lie,” Kai said.
“So you knew that Zkar was going to die?”
Kai winced. “She didn’t tell me about it. There are a lot of things Grandmother doesn’t tell me about.”
“You can run away. Vanish before the battle even begins. Something tells me that that would make Fetter even happier,” Cist said quietly.
Cal shook his head vehemently. “When people have needed help, I’ve always put my own life on the line to give it to them.”
“So what makes this battle any different?” Cal looked at the Lightblade and didn’t have an answer.
He walked away from Cal and Kai, strolling around the chamber. A creature’s roar echoed somewhere but none of the men responded.
“It pains me that he is no longer with us, but I’m glad that he was able to realize that deep down, he did want to be king.” He turned and looked at Cal. “Do you want to be king, Cal?”
Cal stared at him. “I want to defeat Fetter.”
“As do I. I will be by your side, like I was with Fairshade until his final moments.”
“Don’t forget me,” Kai said.
Cal raised an eyebrow at him. “If you’re swearing allegiance to me, you have to get down on one knee.”
Kai beared his sharp teeth. “You’re not king yet, orc. I fight by your side because of our mutual enemy.”
Cal laughed. “I thought as much.” He turned to Cist. “I’m going to need your counsel… a lot.”
“I will stay out of the shadows as long as you need me to, Your Majesty.”
A zing of electricity raced up Cal’s spine. Your Majesty. Heh. Fancy me being a king. After having the good men affirm that they would be by his side when it mattered, Cal could see how Fairshade eventually turned the corner. The dark claw of fear was retracting. Cal hoped that he could keep it at bay when the battle begun.
Cal, Kai and Cist stood at the edge of the steps leading up to Thaylia castle. Exactly half of Sibelle was cresting on the horizon to the west, swathing the grounds in her earthy, yellow-brown glow. To the left and right, lines of soldiers with their defender eryn lined up. Behind them, Lightblades had shown their solidarity, once again forsaking the safety of the shadows to support their leader. They stared at the castle in front of them. Fetter hadn’t come out yet. Maybe he wasn’t going to.
Cal closed his eyes as a warm breeze caressed his face.
Defeat him…
There were multiple voices, some deeper, some lighter, every one of them barely a whisper. They came from the trees and plants growing around the grounds.
You can win… use…
“I almost forgot.”
He opened his eyes and looked at Cist. The Lightblade rummaged around in the satchel at his hip. He took something out and gave it to Cal. He took it and turned it so that it caught Sibelle’s light. On one side was a ‘plus’ sign while the other end had a ‘minus’ sign.
You have obtained Lucky Coin!
“I picked it up after we finished grinding and looting in the Catacombs. It’s a rare item. Flip it during a battle. If it lands on the plus, the STR of your next attack will be doubled. If it lands on the minus, it will be halved.”
Cal put it into his satchel. “Thanks.” He closed his eyes again. Try as he might, the flora in the area decided they didn’t want to talk anymore.
He sighed. One, final stat check:
NAME: Callahan Rogers
AGE: 29 (Earth)
CLASS: Orc Fighter
LVL: 39
HP: 409/309
MP: 561/561
AFF: Earth (x15)
STR: 110+9%+6%+80%
DEF: 100+5%+5%
AGL: 99+11%+12%
INT: 113+3%+9%
ABILITY: Examine, Verdant Whisper
SKILL:
Earth Wall – Level 12 – Next Level in 47%
Earthquake – Level 10 – Next Level in 88%
WEAPON: Axe – Level C – Next Level in 83%
NAME: Kai
AGE: 48 (Terrafaytum)
CLASS: Werejaguar Warrior
LVL: 40
HP: 418/418
MP: 350/350
AFF: Fire (x15)
STR: 122+8%+6%
DEF: 118+10%+5%
AGL: 129+4%+12%
INT: 94+11%+9%
ABILITY: Examine
SKILL:
Flaming Spear – Level 14 – Next Level in 72%
Fireball – Level 9 – Next Level in 35%
WEAPON: Lance/Spear – Level C – Next Level in 81%
NAME: Cist
AGE: 82 (Terrafaytum)
CLASS: Lightblade Assassin
LVL: 57
HP: 640/640
MP: 708/708
AFF: Wind (x1)
STR: 135+2%+1%
DEF: 121+2%+1%
AGL: 170+1%+3%
INT: 149+3%+2%
ABILITY: Examine, Track, Lockpick
SKILL:
Lightblade – Level 30–86% to next level
Light Clone – Level 14 – 70% to next level
WEAPON: Knife/Dagger – Level B – Next Level in 39%
They had made the grinding session count, entering the Catacombs at the start of the moonshift and not leaving until the end. They did that for three moonshifts, taking the last one off to rest. Were they strong enough?
There was a heavy creak. Everyone’s eyes turned to the tall, wooden doors at the front of the castle. Fetter walked out, followed by Col, Parsh and C.
Good luck, Cal.
Not wasting any time then, are we? Cal looked at the blinking cursor at the bottom of the message then closed the window. Even being so far away, Cal could see her hair collect the golden light of the earth moon as she looked his way. She raised her hands into the air, turning her palms forward. A ward blinked into existence, closing out the spectators but keeping the combatants inside.
Col sauntered to the middle of the ground, Parsh floating languidly behind him. He cleared his throat.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome again to Battle Thaylia! We witnessed a fantastic fight a few moonshifts ag–” A grey spire punctured the back of his skull and protruded out of his face.
“Blood of Karst!” Kai swore.
He stood for a little longer then crumpled into a heap. Parsh, didn’t look down at him, keeping her eyes firmly focused on Fetter’s opponents. Seconds later, the light encircled him and took him and Parsh away. Fetter sped towards them, his short legs moving quickly.
“The first one was too weak, the second one talked too much,” He grumbled. “I’m going to have to find another commander soon.”
“No you won’t, because you won’t be king by the end of the moonshift.” Cal had stepped forward, firing the retort before he could think.
“Oh ho! Big words, Frodo!” He smirked. “Look, let’s just get this over and done with. I regret even giving you the time to–”
A pillar shot up up at Fetter’s feet, uppercutted him and sending him staggering backwards.
-12 Damage!
Cal took another step forward. “You don’t know what real regret is yet.”
34
When All Is Lost
20,156th Cycle
15-Sibelle
Cal gripped the axe with both hands and swung it round and round, as if he was training for the hammer throw. Fetter stepped back, sword glinting in the air.
“Slow down there Z-Z-Zelda. You might hurt yourself in confusion!”
Cal ground to a halt. As much as it pained him to admit it, he was right. Two Fetters became three, then back t
o two. Suddenly, he was in front of him. Cal put his axe up but not before he slashed across his forearm.
-35 Damage!
“The HP potions!” Cist yelled from somewhere to Cal’s right. Fetter was sparring with Kai, who was driving his lance in rapid time at him. He dodged, ducked, weaved and taunted the werejaguar.
“Use all the HP potions you want. You’re still not going to w-w-win.” Fetter leaped back towards Cist, swinging his sword upwards. Sharp, stone protrusions ripped up towards Kai. He jumped up and cracked one of them on the side with his lance, the protrusion exploding into thousands of tiny, stone shards.
He swung his sword back and clashed with the dagger in Cist’s right hand. Cal had gotten a glimpse of Cist’s hand-to-hand combat skills when they trained in the Catacombs. Now it was on full display. With the dagger in his left hand, he slashed across Fetter’s throat but not before Fetter stabbed at him in the stomach. Both combatants’ attacks missed the other and they started yet another dance of death.
“Go!” Cal looked at Kai. The werejaguar nodded and rushed at Fetter. Sensing danger behind him, Fetter turned at a right angle and started running backwards. Hector was right. Intelligent battle strategy wasn’t his forte. Every time he moved backwards, he would always use his sword to put more distance between him and the enemy.
He was at it again, sending spire columns charging their way. Cal ran towards him, trying to stay close but not getting caught in Fetter’s attacks either. If the Earth Wall uppercut proved anything, it was that he was slow to react. The element of surprise was an important tactic, one that he would have to work into his own strategy if he wanted to defeat him.
The other thing also was that the battleground he had chosen was wide and open. There were no walls or objects for Cist to rely on if he wanted to use his Lightblade to attack. He would have to conjure up a Lightclone, but only being 1 HP, Fetter could easily destroy it. Even if he were to create a hundred, Fetter had proven back at Bracewell that his Spire Maiden could easily account for them all.
-80 Damage!
A spire drove itself through Cal’s shoulder, causing him to drop his axe. After a blink of an eye, Fetter was in his face again, sword drawn back. “Now’s not the time to nap!” Cal slapped the ground and the earth beneath Fetter’s slid. He fell over, causing him to change his angle of attack. He slashed horizontally at Cal’s legs. Cal jumped. Gripping the axe with a wide grip, he swung down.
“Earthquake!”
Fetter gritted his teeth and stared up at Cal.
“Now!” He yelled. Cist and Kai got to work on the prone king, stabbing, cutting and dismembering.
-39 Damage!
-12 Damage!
-27 Damage!
-15 Damage!
-38 Damage!
-29 Damage!
Critical Hit!
-80 Damage!
Earthquake’s effect ended and Kai and Cist jumped back, joining Cal several yards away.
There was a hole on the side of his face, through one cheek and out the other. He was hunched over, sword dragging on the ground.
Then he started laughing. Blood gurgled in his throat.
“We can beat him,” Cal said. “We just need to get him down again and…”
Cist and Kai weren’t paying attention to him.
Luminescent purple smoke ran in a circle around Fetter, coiling upwards like a vaporous serpent. As it did, all the wounds that Kai and Cist had dealt closed up right before their eyes.
+888 HP!
Seconds later, Fetter was whole again. His sword hung loosely in his right hand. He lifted his left, showing him the back of his hand. Cal tensed, expecting a new earth attack. None came. Then he noticed it: the purple diamond-shaped chip embedded in the black gauntlet. It glowed and pulsed, the same colour as the vapour that healed him.
“Just so you chumps know, I’m sort of a b-b-big deal.” He lowered his hands. “Big enough of a deal that I got this legendary set of g-g-gauntlets that will heal me automatically if I sustain any damage.”
Kai gritted his teeth and bolted at him, lance hungering for royal flesh. Cal hesitated then also dashed at Fetter. No point going on the defensive now. He drew his axe back to his right.
Fetter jumped and grabbed onto Kai’s lance as it stabbed the space he had occupied a fraction of a second prior. He slashed him across the chest, blood welling up immediately.
-59 Damage!
Just as he was about to land another lethal blow on the werejaguar, he leapt back again, evading the horizontal slash of Cal’s axe.
“You’re treating this little game a bit too seriously, don’t you–”
There was a flash in the air and an inch-deep cut appeared on Fetter’s cheek.
-21 Damage!
He glanced over Cal’s shoulder at the Lightblade, who had another blade at the ready.
“You fucking–hrrrrrrrrrnngggghh!”
Critical Hit!
-53 Damage!
Cal had landed a huge, walloping blow across Fetter’s stomach. The sickening crack of his ribs imploding rang out across the ground. He flew through the air, limp as a ragdoll. Cal ran towards him, watching for the moment of impact with his axe raised. He jumped and timed it so that his axe crunched into the ground the same time as he did.
“Earthquake!”
His eyes were half closed, his head lolling to the side. Drool came out of his mouth, which was twisted into a retarded smile.
“Cal!” He turned around. Cist had Kai’s arm around his shoulder. The werejaguar was in a bad way. “HP potion!” The Lightblade yelled. Cal dug his hand into the satchel, felt for the right bottle then threw it through the air.
He turned back and started turning Fetter into sashimi. He hacked at his diminuitive body harder than he had hacked before. A foot came off, then the top of his skull. He crunched through the hip but couldn’t get all the way through. He managed to shatter the chain mail and crack open his chest, exposing his dark heart. Fetter’s blood sprayed all over the orc. This is for Zkar and this is for Natasha and this is for–
Cal was struck with force of an express bullet train. He flew through the air, thudded into the ground and rolled to a stop 50 yards away.
-317 Damage!
Cist and Kai appeared. Their mouths moved their faces were frantic but they were fading fast. Cal was flipped him over. The sky was so damn pretty. He could have lay there and stared up at the stars the whole night. So sleepy…
Sweet and fruity nectar poured down his throat. He thrashed around but couldn’t dislodge the werejaguar straddling him.
“He’s back.” Kai dealt him a slap across the face. “Wake up.” He glanced back over his shoulder. Fetter was on his haunches. The purple vapour pooled around him and snaked out, collecting the parts of him that Cal had hacked away and drawing them back towards his body.
“What happened?” Cal shoved another HP potion into his mouth. He pushed the werejaguar away, opting to drink it at his own pace.
“You were chopping Fetter to pieces. The next moment, there was an explosion.” Kai looked way too excited about Cal’s misfortune.
“It could have been the gauntlets.” Cist said. He also looked back over his shoulder at Fetter. He was now in a kneeling position, his sword in the ground as he tried to stand up.
“Now that you mention it…” Cal put himself into his mind’s eye. He could remember quite vividly every strike he landed. The reel ended when he crunched his axe into the gauntlet.
“Maybe it stores the damage a foe delivers to its wearer and releases it as a counter attack?” Cist lunged down and grabbed one of Cal’s arms. He nodded at Kai who did the same. Together, they dragged Cal to his feet. Fetter was on his and was slowly walking their way. The sound of metal scraping on stone got closer and closer. It was interspersed with a grinding sound as spires vibrated out of the ground and rose into the air.
“Decided to finally get serious with us then, did you?” Cal spat.
Fetter stoppe
d walking and looked up at the orc. He sighed. “OK, so m-m-maybe I don’t regret this as much as I thought I would. But p-play time’s over.” The spires were easily double the size of the ones he usually conjured up; five or six feet long, the base being nearly two feet in diameter. A hundred or so floated menacingly in the air, waiting to be called upon.
“I am a generous god, so I’ll give you another p-privilege.” He stabbed his sword into the ground and crossed his arms. “I’ll let you choose which of your cronies you want to kill first.”
Cal stared at him.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Fetter paused. “I don’t know, can you?”
Cal chuckled. “What sort of life did you lead on earth? Like were you a check out chick? Did you sell second-hand cars for a living?” Cal plonked the shaft of the axe onto the ground and rested his chin on top of the blade. “I’m genuinely curious.”
“Actually I know.” Cal waggled his finger at him, a sparkle in his eye. “I bet you were a nobody. You probably mooched off your parents and lived in their basement, constantly falling for get-rich-quick schemes when you weren’t fapping off to interracial midget porn. I’m right aren’t I?”
Fetter shook his head slowly, pinching the top of his nose. “I was going to let you off with a smack on the wr-wrist, you know. I would kill your friends then hunt their friends and families down and make you watch, but I was going to let you run free, just because we’re alike. Both being p-p-players of this silly little game and what not.
“Then you had to go and make it p-p-personal, so guess what? I’m still going to do everything I just said that I would do, but make it even better, well, for me that is. I’ll make you my personal pet and find new and fun ways to kill you. And I’ll kill you over and over until you beg for mercy… and that will be your existence until the day that you actually die.”
“Just one problem, King Douchebag,” Cal taunted. Fetter’s smile faded once more. “You’re going to lose.”
Fetter almost looked disappointed. He raised his hands and the spires became very still. “It was fun while it lasted.” He threw his hands forward and the spires screamed towards the party of three. Cal threw himself down and slammed his hands on the ground.