Forbidden Arcana: Ariel

by Tamryn Tamer

  “Now,” Cynthia said turning back to Ariel. “Where were we? Ah, yes. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? I haven’t been the royal advisor for centuries.”

  “I wanted…” Ariel whispered.

  “Speak up,” Cynthia snapped. “You are a member of the royal family and should conduct yourself like one. You are over fifty years old, start acting like it.”

  “I’m sorry…”

  “Don’t apologize,” Cynthia said crossly. “Speak properly.”

  “Ahem,” Ariel cleared her throat and stood up straight. She was still trembling but she was at least attempting to look the part of royalty. “I came to introduce you to my master, Jericho. He intends to kill the soul eater.”

  “Master?” Cynthia blinked in front of Jericho, murder once again returned to her eyes. “What is the meaning of this human? Speak!”

  “Ariel is my familiar,” Jericho answered calmly. “She said you may have information on the soul eater.”

  “Familiar?” Cynthia said pensively. She half smiled at Jericho and placed her hands on his chest, exploring it freely. “Interesting. It’s been centuries since a fairy has been bound in service to a mage. And you intend to defeat the soul eater no less? That’d make you a fairly powerful mage. Yes, I suppose if you could defeat the soul eater I could approve of this relationship. I suppose you’re also the one who killed the elders?”

  “That’s right,” Jericho answered.

  “Stupid,” she said coldly. “The elders knew more about the soul eater than anybody else in the village. Although, I shouldn’t complain. It does put me in a unique position to bargain.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Jericho asked.

  “I’m sure Ariel didn’t tell you,” Cynthia smiled. “But I used to be the advisor to the royal family. Unfortunately, a certain jealous queen had me removed from my position when the elders suggested that her husband had a wandering eye.”

  “Did he?” Jericho asked looking her up and down. He could see why eyes would wander.

  “Yes,” she pressed her hand on Jericho’s cheek seductively before giving him a firm slap. “But don’t interrupt. His eyes wandered to the captain of the guard. But that’s irrelevant to the point at hand. What is relevant is I was a good advisor. I was the sole dissenting voice to the elder’s madness. And now that they’re gone, Ariel will become queen. Since you’re her master you have the power to grant me my position. So, what do you say?”

  “I don’t really see an issue with that,” Jericho answered.

  “Really?” she looked him up and down suspiciously. “You don’t even know me.”

  “It sounds like everything was going well until they got rid of you,” Jericho said. “I see no issue with bringing you back as a royal advisor. In fact, I’d say it’d be foolish not to.”

  “You may not be as stupid as I originally thought mage,” Cynthia smiled seductively.

  “I also want to know how to grow these void flowers and the recipe to brew the liquor,” Jericho added. He’d intended to find out another time but figured he’d have less bargaining power later.

  “Hm,” she looked around her garden doubtfully. “Why? Nobody drinks it but me.”

  “I think I can find a market for it,” Jericho grinned knowing full well the popularity of black licorice liquor for shots. While fairies might not have a taste for it, players certainly would.

  “I think we have a deal then,” she beamed wickedly. “What would you like to know about the soul eater?”

  “Everything,” Jericho smiled.

  Cynthia explained the soul eater was a powerful cursed warrior. It was fueled by spirit magic which resulted in a powerful crushing aura. Most warriors who faced it died without ever knowing the cause. It was also fast and physically powerful, capable of cleaving several trees in a single swipe of its great sword. The most troubling aspect was it wore unbreakable plate armor and its only weakness was its core housed within that armor.

  It seemed that the soul eater was a warrior class with high armor, speed, and primarily dealt damage. More than likely the spirit aura was a simple damage over time effect which they could negate with regeneration potions. He had some thoughts on how to break the armor but the real problem was how to tank him.

  Then during their conversation Jericho realized one more important fact, the soul eater was blind to anything except for souls and a plan started to take form.

  Jericho thanked Cynthia and headed back to the central square to meet up with Terra.

  Chapter 7

  A Thousand Tanks

  Terra arrived safely and stored her gold in Ariel’s basement. Jericho was shocked to find that while Ariel was forthright about the gold, she hadn’t mentioned the various jewels and jewelry. So, Jinx was even more thrilled to be in charge of guarding everything instead of coming with.

  After explaining his plan, they decided that it’d be better to leave Jinx behind. While Jericho would have preferred to leave Ariel behind as well, she was integral to the plan. Also, she insisted on coming.

  They left and began the trek north. Ariel turned invisible while flying above them and looked for any enemies or disturbances. On the ground Jericho led the way while using his spirit senses to the best of his ability and Terra killed anything he pointed at.

  It took over an hour before Jericho finally got an inkling of what Jinx had sensed before. He immediately felt his spirit crack and retract like a snapping rubber band. A sharp sting shot through his body.

  “You alright?” Terra asked seeing him wince.

  “I think we’re about here,” Jericho said while masking his pain. He started condensing his spirit until it was a thin layer around him. He followed up with an illusion that his spirit wasn’t there. “As soon as we get close, you’ll feel some pressure. Take a regen potion and push through it.”

  “Got it,” Terra said while drinking various magical and physical resistance potions as well as some enhancement potions. Jericho did the same as Ariel landed beside them.

  “It’s up ahead,” Ariel trembled while pointing to a hill several yards in front of them. “It’s on the other side of that hill.” She looked up at Jericho with pleading eyes. “Do you really think we can do it?”

  “Yeah,” Jericho answered confidently. “We can do it. Do you think you can do your part?”

  “I’ll try my best,” Ariel said as Jericho carefully handed her a massive pile of potions. She took them and flew high into the sky before turning invisible.

  “Do you really think we can do this?” Terra scoffed.

  “Might take us a dozen or so attempts,” Jericho answered. “But maybe.”

  “Such confidence,” she rolled her eyes while taking out her Darkfeather, a mid-ranged epic bow. It didn’t offer much in terms of critical damage, accuracy, or base damage but both its attack speed and armor piercing stat were the among highest in the game. It was a favorite of hers for monster hunting. The rest of her armor was also tailored to player versus environment. “Do you really think you’re up for tanking?”

  “Tanking, damage, support,” Jericho cracked his neck cockily. “Today I’m everything aren’t I?”

  “There’s that cockiness again,” Terra rolled her eyes. She gestured towards the hill. “Have at it, meat shield.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Jericho said as he rushed past.

  As soon as he reached the top of the hill, he felt an immense pressure bearing down on him and his health slowly started to deplete. It wasn’t fast enough to cause any real issues but he knew that the rate was going to increase the closer he got to the target. He started adjusting his spirit bubble to be less of a bubble and more of an umbrella, it seemed to help with the crushing sensation. Then he drank a regeneration potion.

  “Alright,” her said as Terra arrived next to him.

  “I feel weak and my health is going down,” Terra said. “I take it this is why you made me bring regeneration and healing potions?”

  “Yup,” Je
richo answered as they continued past the tree line. They could see a clearing up ahead. As soon as they emerged, they saw the soul eater. Cynthia had not done it justice. “Holy shit. That looks awesome.”

  “Yeah it does,” Terra said while guzzling down a powerful regen potion.

  The soul eater was wearing a giant suit of gold and black plate and carrying a massive black and gold greatsword one handed. In his other hand he carried an enormous black kite shield. To top everything off it wore a tattered black hooded cloak making it feel even more ominous.

  “Move,” Jericho said but Terra was already in motion as the soul either dashed toward them at an impossible speed. Cynthia wasn’t kidding when she said it had speed and power. It ignored Jericho and turned toward Terra confirming that his illusion was effectively hiding his soul. He yelled to Terra, “Keep moving!”

  He began painting clones of Terra on the battlefield and infused them with spirits which immediately drew the soul eater’s attention. As he dashed toward the illusions striking them down, they dissipated. Jericho increased his speed of creation as Terra continued to avoid being the primary target.

  “Want to give it a shot?” Jericho yelled while continuing to tank the boss with illusions.

  “You got it,” Terra said while pulling out her bow. She fired off a dozen shots in a couple seconds, each one not leaving so much as a scratch. “Called it!”

  “Yup,” Jericho said while shooting a fireball into the sky. Hellfire potions rained down and landed all around the soul eater leaving pools of flaming liquid. It spun around with its giant sword catching seven illusions which Jericho refreshed as quickly as he could. “This is harder than I thought.”

  Potions continued to drop from above, each one leaving a flaming zone on the ground or enhancing an already existing one. Within a few minutes half the battlefield was covered in fire as the soul eater dashed back and forth through the flames unfazed. Jericho continued to make his clones appear within the rings causing it to remain in the flames.

  Jericho found that while creating illusions was fun and he had a knack for it, there seemed to be a downside he hadn’t yet experienced, a headache along with an upset stomach. Continually casting illusions felt a lot like motion sickness and the longer he was doing it, the worse it was getting.

  Jericho’s last illusion was swiped away by the soul eater which immediately honed in on Terra. She was already on the move but barely dodged as it rushed for her and swiped. Its speed seemed to be increasing and so far, they hadn’t so much as left a scratch on it. Additionally, it had moved out of the flames.

  “I got it,” Ariel said as an illusion of Jinx appeared in the center of the flames. The knight slashed away at the Jinx illusion causing it to vanish.

  “Phase two,” Jericho said as he summoned a wind into the area enhancing the flames. He looked closely and the metal was starting to glow. “Go!”

  Terra pulled out her armor piercing arrows and began firing them. While none of them pierced the plate armor, they were starting to leave dents. Jericho used his magic to enhance the flames as Ariel kept the soul eater jumping around at illusions.

  “How impossible would this be without illusions?” Terra laughed while firing off several more arrows hunting for a weak point in the armor. “I mean, it’d probably one hit an actual tank wouldn’t it?”

  “I think so,” Jericho laughed while continuing to superheat the metal. “Good thing we have virtually unlimited tanks.”

  “Jericho,” Ariel looked like she was about to collapse. “I can’t do this much longer.”

  “You idiot!” Terra yelled while swapping over to explosive arrows hoping to cause more damage. “You Jinxed us. And she’s not even here!”

  “Sorry,” Jericho said while forcing himself to create a few more illusions. “We may need you to evade tank for a bit.”

  “I can’t tank him in the fire,” she argued. “And we need to keep him in it.”

  “Fine,” Jericho said trying not to throw up as the motion sickness intensified. “I said I’d tank and I’ll tank.”

  There was no powerful emotion overwhelming him at the moment but it wasn’t like he was short on past trauma to pull from. He coated himself in a layer of frost, it would slow him down but better than frying. He dashed into the flames and released the illusion hiding his spirit.

  “Master!” Ariel yelled turning to Terra. “Is he insane?”

  “Look out!” Terra said as Jericho barely dodged the soul eater. “You’re moving too slow.”

  “I know,” Jericho said as he continually refreshed layers of frost on his body to survive the flames. He could see the spirit of the boss moving and dragging the armor behind it allowing him to dodge the incoming strikes. He’d already be dead if he couldn’t see spirits. He took a chance and attempted to attack the soul eater with his own spirit magic. It snapped back inflicting pain on himself. “Fuck.”

  He barely dodged a fifth slash while rolling away. Refreshing his frost armor was becoming ineffective. He was no longer refreshing frost but basically creating a layer of warm water on himself and he watched as his health started to quickly tick away.

  Another arrow stuck the shell, this one getting stuck in the now somewhat soft plate. He only needed to keep it on the flames a little while longer. Or he needed to increase the temperature.

  “Phase three incoming,” Jericho said. He hid his spirit again and summoned up another illusion to replace him on the flames and became dizzy. He forced himself to summon several more illusions while escaping the flames.

  “I got it,” Ariel huffed while summoning up more Jinx illusions. “We can do it.”

  “That’s right,” Jericho said while summoning up a whirlwind to the feed the flames. He activated elemental overload and focused on filling his pathways to the brim. Since he still wasn’t experiencing any strong emotions it took a while. Ariel dropped to her knees but continued to spam illusions quickly as the soul eater destroyed them. “Phase three!”

  Jericho focused everything on his earth magic and released as many spikes as he could from the ground. The soul eater shattered most of them with his shield and sword as they attempted to pierce his armor but failed to get them all. Several managed to get his legs and arms. While they were crumbling quickly, they were being replaced with an almost endless stream of spikes holding him in place.

  Terra took that as the signal and pulled out her Uzic arrows. The real reason she loved that bow. Normally, she favored accuracy, critical strikes, and long range. Against monsters that didn’t work very well and she adopted a different strategy. A bow that offered massive attack speed and armor piercing combined with arrows doused in basilisk venom. They were both poisonous and corrosive. Terra cut loose releasing arrows at a Gatling-like speed, each arrow landing square in the chest.

  Waves of stone spikes continued smashing against the soul eater as Terra’s arrows began to eat away at the weakened armor. After a few dozen arrows the chest cracked open revealing a glowing blue crystal. Terra’s next arrow shattered it into a million pieces and the armor fell.

  The spirit fog over the forest slowly began to dissipate.

  “We did it,” Ariel belted out excitedly. “We did it!”

  “Yeah,” Jericho laughed while trying to ignore this throbbing head. “Now we need to get back to the village.”

  “Already ahead of you,” Terra laughed while leaving them behind.

  “Fuck,” Jericho said chasing after her. Ariel took to the skies and followed right behind them.

  Chapter 8

  A Friendly Competition

  As soon as Jericho passed through the front gates of the fairy village, he saw the signs indicating homes and establishments were available for purchase. He rushed to Ariel’s cottage and burst through the door.

  “Let go of me!” Terra yelled from the basement. “I told you he’s on his way.”

  “Where is he? Slut! Tramp!” Jinx yelled.

  “Ow!” Terra yelled. “No biting! Le
t me go! It’s important!”

  Jericho and Ariel rushed downstairs to catch Jinx on Terra’s back with her teeth sunk into her shoulder. After seeing them arrive Jinx immediately released Terra who ran to her chest. Jericho did the same, clearing every chest in Ariel’s basement.

  “Are we taking it all?” Ariel asked. “What’s going on? I don’t understand?”

  “Trust me,” Jericho said while finishing the final chest. He was only a few steps behind Terra as she ran upstairs. “I don’t have time to explain. Terra has almost a million-gold saved so we need to get to everything faster.”

  “Where were you? Dolt! Slowpoke!” Jinx growled while trying to jump on Jericho like she had Terra. He dodged her and continued to the top of the stairs. “What was that!? Asshole! Bastard!”

  He heard Jinx and Ariel following behind, Jinx furious at being ignored but he didn’t have time to explain game mechanics to them. He exited the house and saw Terra sprinting towards the Tavern and realized she was likely to get there before him. Of all the buildings in the village, he couldn’t let her have that one. He had plans for that one.

  “Not happening,” he said while popping a swiftness potion and summoning a heavy wind to push him forward. He was catching up but he needed more. Jericho snapped and exploded himself forward dealing half his health in damage. He’d barely managed to pass her and touched the sign first.

  “Cheating mother fucker!” Terra yelled while pivoting to the nearby Inn. Easily the second most valuable target in any town since rooms were frequently rented by the hour. Jericho dashed to the alchemist and herbalist shops while Terra took the blacksmith, leatherworks, and fletcher. Her natural speed boost in a forest village was working to her advantage.

  “Jericho!” Jinx panted while still trailing behind with Ariel. “What is going on? Jackass! Idiot!”