Raiya- Early Game

by Russell Wilbinski

  You have found Shardbeast Sliver, Rarity: Unique, Quality: Unique, Durability: Infinite. Description: This sliver of dark power once animated a servant of a dark god.

  “What the hell is this thing?” she asked herself, stuffing it into her pocket for later inspection. Clearing her mind and shaking out her rapidly numbing fingers, she scanned the deck, looking for any more of those things. Blessedly, there were no more in sight. A pained scream from below decks and a primal roar let her know it wasn‘t over yet. Gritting her teeth, she rushed below decks to save her crew.

  Chapter 56

  The blinding white light faded from Skree’s mind, and the world around him resolved into sharp focus once again. Several moments passed as he tried to understand the surrounding area. Above him was the brilliant blue sky, devoid of clouds in all directions. The golden sun floated far above, a lone celestial body in the endless blue expanse. At first, he thought an ocean surrounded him, but a longer look revealed the truth.

  He was standing atop a mountain so high that the surrounding area he had mistaken for water was in fact great billowing clouds, roiling like waves in the currents of air whipping around him. As if they were water, they crashed against the mountain top and gushed into the air, dispersing and settling back into the sea of clouds around his high perch. It was truly mesmerizing.

  Skree watched with wide eyes for countless minutes, the clouds advancing and crashing against the stone, only to retreat once more.

  “Millenia pass and I enjoy the scene.” A voice spoke from beside him, startling Skree so bad he stumbled away, toppling into a chair that wasn’t there a moment ago. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Skree finally laid eyes on the figure that had spoken.

  An old man bent and bowed by the ravages of time stood before him, thick gray beard blowing in the wind. Deep wrinkles surrounded his eyes and mouth, and dark spots covered his aging skin. From his outward appearance, Skree would have guessed he was at least a hundred years old, but when he looked into his eyes, he knew he couldn’t be more wrong. Those eyes spoke of eons, of ages long past.

  The kindly old man smiled politely. “Sorry I startled you, it was not my intention. I am Amser, Archon of Time and Order.” His voice was wizened and reminded Skree of royalty. Even though the Archon was apologizing, there was no apology in his tone, only polite disdain. Skree opened his mouth to speak, but a wave of the Archons hand silenced him.

  “I have already seen every outcome of this conversation. Every greeting, every question and every goodbye. It is a burden, for I can never converse with anyone, not even my fellow Archons, except for Abrenacht. Chaos is unknowable, unpredictable. He is the Archon of chaos and is quite the conversationalist.”

  Once again Skree started to speak, but the Archon closed his fingers together and the words died on Skree’s lips. “Please do not waste more of my time than you already have with useless words.” The Archon snapped his fingers, and a table blinked into existence, with a chair opposite Skree. Atop the table was an exquisitely ornate chess set, the pieces carved from gemstones and precious metals.

  “You know this game, you used to play it back in high school.” Amser said, lowering himself into the chair. “Poorly, I know.” He said, answering the half-formed response just starting to take shape in Skree’s mind. “Regardless, we must play. It is the rule. You know you will lose; I know you will lose, but we must play the game until you surrender.” The Archon gestured at the board, urging him to go first.

  Amser has offered you a quest - Archon’s Trial - No way to win.

  The Archon of Time and Order has requested a friendly game of chess.

  Rewards: Unknown

  Failure: Unknown

  Skree considered the board, wondering which piece to move first. Despite knowing he could never beat Amser, he refused to not give it everything he had. Amser couldn’t read his mind but could see every outcome no matter his choice. With that kind of handicap, how could he even stand a chance? Despite this, Skree wanted to impress the Archon, to do his best. He reached forward, moving his Pawn to B4 and settled back into his chair.

  “Checkmate.” Amser said, without so much as moving a finger. Skree furrowed his brow and looked down at the chessboard and sure enough, something cleared the board of his pieces and his king was in check mate.

  “But I played none of those moves.”

  Amser sighed. “You did, I just saved us both the time.”

  Skree stared down at the board, memorizing the position of his king and the pieces that had him in checkmate. “Rematch?” Skree asked.

  “Pointless, but fine.” Amser waved a hand, resetting the pieces to their starting positions.

  Skree moved the same piece, this time keeping his eyes fixed on the board. In the blink of an eye, the pieces slid around the board, faster than he could perceive. When the instant had passed, the checkmate was just as complete, but this time the ending positions were entirely different.

  “How? Every response by you would elicit a different response from me. There are more combinations of chess moves than electrons in the universe.”

  Amser slammed a fist on the table, sending cracks through the stone yet none of the pieces so much as swayed. “And I know all of those, boy. Every action you make, every counter you might consider, the board knows the final output of those choices. It plays out the choice you make in every situation. It reflects the power of order. And in every scenario, you have lost.”

  Skree knew he was right, that no matter what choices he made in the game would result in failure. How could it not? Every time they played; he would inevitably lose. No clever ruse could confound the archon, no brilliant use of strategy could beat Amser.

  He sat forward in his chair, staring into the abyss of the Archons gaze. “Again?”

  This time, Amser rolled his eyes in disgust and the board reset. “Go ahead, make your move.”

  Skree reached forward, then lowered his hand without moving a piece. He sat back in his chair, a smile on his face. “Have you ever seen the movie War Games?”

  “I have. I’ve seen everything.” The Archon said, his voice trailing off as he recalled the movie in full. He inhaled slowly, lips pulling into a grimace. “You can’t be serious.”

  “The only winning move is not to play. So, I won’t.” Skree said, crossing his arms.

  Amser huffed, tugging at his beard. “You will.”

  “Why would I surrender? The trials are a test, but this one is unwinnable. You said the rules were that I had to play until I was a ready to surrender. To give up and admit defeat. But I refuse.”

  “And how long can you wait? A day? A month? A year? I am the Archon of Time and Order, the two fundamental forces that govern all of creation. Time will continue to race forward until your death. A human lifespan is nothing more than a blip.”

  “Then I will wait with you, until you give up or I die, whichever comes first.”

  Amser smiled ever so slightly. “A bold strategy, but I am afraid you won’t like this scenario.” The archon waved a hand, and a portal opened behind him, showing a naval battle in progress. “Do you recognize those ships?”

  Skree‘s heart began to race and fear flooded his body. “Is that the Typhoon? And the Sawbones?” he asked, standing so abruptly his chair toppled to the ground.

  “It is. In this place, time is meaningless. Centuries may pass in a single second on Raiya. But,” the Archon waved his hand and the scene behind him began to move, the ships firing full broadsides at one another. “I can change that. Until you make a move.”

  The scene continued to play out, Skree watching in horror as Priestess launched balls of fire cannonballs at a stark black ship brimming with the warriors from the kobold warrens. Somehow the forces of Abrenacht found him again.

  “But I don’t want to fail. I don’t want to lose.”

  “You miss the point of the trials. They are not win or lose. They exist only to test your character, your resolve. You know the stakes of our game. Al
l of existence. Reality itself. If you honestly think I did not know you would try to not play, then you are a fool.”

  Skree sank into his chair, wholly defeated. “What is the point of all this? What is your trial meant to accomplish?”

  “For you to know that winning is sometimes beyond you. No matter how clever or devious you are, you cannot always win. Sometimes losing must serve as much purpose as winning. You were correct in your assumption, the only way to win was to not play. I told you before we started, that you could not win. But even so,you played. You refused to acknowledge there was no way to win. AndI defeated you the same as if you had surrendered from the start.”

  “You wanted me to just give up, not even try to win?”

  “Would you try to stop the sun from rotating? Would you try to drink an ocean?”

  “No, because those things are impossible.”

  “And so is beating someone that can anticipate your every action, thought and deed. You have failed this trial, Skree.” The Archon gestured at the board. “Let’s be on our way.”

  Skree reached forward, hand resting on a piece. He looked at the battle unfolding in the portal behind the Archon. “I surrender.”

  Amser’s Trial: Failed

  Amser clapped his hands together and nodded. “Fantastic. At least you figured it outin the end.” The ships behind him slowed to a crawl but didn’t completely stop. Now, come with me.” The Archon rose from his chair, the portal snapping closed in an instant. Amser ambled to the edge of the mountain plateau overlooking the tops of the clouds spanning outward as far as they could see.

  Hesitantly, Skree moved beside him, a terrifying sense of vertigo nearly overwhelming him as he looked over the edge into the roiling cloud cover a dozen feet below them.

  “Goodbye Skree.” Amser said flatly. Without warning, Amser shoved Skree over the edge of the world, sending him plummeting into the clouds below.

  Chapter 57

  “Archers!” Hawkins shouted as he sprinted across the deck. The Sawbones and their mysterious opponent had exchanged cannon fire, but the enemy warship was closing fast, ignoring the impressive barrage of fire coming from Moultry’s gunners and now he knew why. As the distance between the ships shrank, a dozen warriors in beetle like armor unfurled gossamer wings and leapt into the air, buzzing furiously toward his ship.

  Two dozen men scrambled to the weapons rack, pulling bows free and throwing quivers over their shoulders. “Target those fliers!” Hawkins shouted, jogging toward the capture point with his twin sabers drawn. He spotted a familiar face rushing toward him.

  “Hawkins, where do you want me?” Priestess asked, falling into step beside him.

  “We have to defend the capture point, or we lose the day. You and I will keep Old Greg safe to keep sailing and Moultry will continue punishing that ship if they refuse to leave our firing range.” Priestess nodded, casting fire resistance buffs on the crew before they reached the capture point.

  “Here they come!”

  The first of the figures dove toward the capture point, using his momentum to thrust his spear with impressive speed and force, but Hawkins spun to the side and slashed at the wings, hoping to ground the attacker, but his saber passed straight through them with no resistance. Before he had time to curse, another spear lunged toward him and he deflected it, activating his skill Wind Dancer.

  His movement and attack speed increased and taking full advantage of the buff, he delivered two lightning fast swings that clanged hard against the hardened armor leaving only thin gashes on the surface of the metal. Hawkins growled as the heavily armored warrior flew back into the sky unharmed.

  “My turn.” Priestess said, waving her hands in an arcane gesture. A pair of winged men plummeted toward them, both focused on the casting kobold. Hawkins wanted to jump in front of her, defend her from the incoming attack, but he had to trust her. She had survived this long and wanted to see what she could do.

  Priestess shouted something in her language, pushing both hands forward toward the speeding attackers as a net of fire shot forward, expanding rapidly to engulf the flier. The tendrils were as solid as rope and they plummeted from the sky, crashing into the deck with a resounding thud of metal and enough force to shatter bones. The pair bounced along the deck and tumbled overboard, landing in the ocean with a splash and a hiss as their red hot armor met the icy water.

  Hawkins nodded appreciatively. “Not bad. Can you do that again?”

  “Not for a few minutes, but I have more spells that might help.”

  “Captain!” Old Greg shouted in alarm. “Half a dozen have landed on deck.”

  Hawkins whirled, taking in the situation. At least six of the fliers were on board, and the crew was moving to engage. “This is not good, Priestess. Most sailors wouldn‘t dare wear heavy armor like that, if you went overboard you‘d sink straight to the bottom, so it’s likely none of the men have much experience fighting heavily armored opponents and that armor is very strong.”

  “What can we do?” Priestess asked, eyes tracking the few remaining flier.

  “I can help, but I need you to defend the capture point.”

  Priestess bared her fangs. “I will defend it with my life.” She looked overhead and spotted a new flier, one in similar beetle like armor, but streaked with gold. The figure hurled balls of fire toward the deck and explosions shook the air as fire and force sent the unarmored crew of the Sawbones flying and sprawling. “I will engage that flier, give you some cover fire.”

  Hawkins grimaced. “Do what you can.” he said and leapt over the railing.

  Priestess watched the flier zooming through the air and used Analyze on the target.

  Name: Captain Bynum

  Race: Human

  Class: Havoc Knight, level 26

  Profession: Scholar

  Health: 960

  Mana: 1500

  Stamina: 480

  Disposition: Enraged

  That wasn‘t great. Twelve levels higher than her and highly mobile would make this a very difficult fight. As if on cue, Bynum let loose another barrage of exploding fireballs. Priestess focused and began to cast her strongest spell. It had a fairly long cool down but if she could hit Bynum it would severely damage him and his armor.

  As she channeled the mana, a small bead of molten rock began to coalesce just above her palm, the intense heat uncomfortable even to her. Mana flowed and the liquid magma began to wobble and pulse, rapidly growing in size until it was as large as a melon.

  She had trained with throwing knives with Training Dummy for a long time and now she needed to put those acquired skills to good use. With great care, she waited until Bynum slowed, hovering above the ship to drop another exploding ball of fire from above. With practiced aim, she launched the magma ball toward him, and the glowing orb shot forward arcing toward the flying enemy with perfect aim.

  In the instant before impact, Bynum shot up into the air faster than she could follow and the magma orb arced away to splash into the ocean harmlessly. Priestess cursed, scanning the sky desperately. “Where are you?” she mumbled, already channeling mana into her next spell. This time she would use a spell with much faster projectiles, a favorite from her days hunting rats in the caves, Fire Dart.

  She felt the scales on the back of her neck stand up and instinctively dove to the side as a bolt of lightning struck the deck where she had stood moments ago. Smoke billowed into the air from the charred deck, and Bynum hovered just behind the ship, grinning.

  “Tiny Lizard, you think such a pathetic spell has any chance to hit me, captain of the Flying Beetles?” His helmet was the face of a beetle, large pincers clamping together in challenge.

  Priestess threw her arms forward, releasing a dozen fire darts that streaked through the air at high speeds. Bynum zigged and zagged, dodging the barrage with ease. He laughed at her, and launched his own attack, a similar stream of Fire Darts. Priestess was quick, but not nearly as quick as the flying Bynum. She dodged left and right, r
olling and scrabbling across the deck as fast as she could, but several of the darts struck her, blistering her skin and reducing her hit points to seventy-four percent.

  She hissed in pain, getting to her feet. Not wanting to give him another chance to attack, she launched dart after dart as fast as she could make them. Each stage of channeling provided three darts per second up to five seconds. Instead of charging to fifteen darts, she was rapidly releasing them every second. Bynum darted around the open space with speed and grace, dodging all of her darts with ease, but her endless stream of darts kept him from returning fire, just as she had hoped. Moving that fast took a great deal of concentration and the flying armor probably drained mana at a significant rate.

  She continued firing, watching as her mana plummeted moving below fifty percent in a hurry. She couldn’t keep this up forever and Bynum showed no signs of fatigue or running out of mana. Maybe she was wrong about the armor, maybe it didn’t require him to feed it mana.

  Less than a minute had passed and she was scraping the bottom of the barrel, her mana reserve at ten percent. She stopped casting and Bynum slowed, hovering amid ship, directly above the deck. He was panting from the effort, but still smiled knowing he had won this fight.

  “Nice try, little lizard. But you are no match for me.” Bynum said. He raised both hands into the air, a twinkling light forming above him. “But I am done playing with you.” He looked down at the fight raging on the deck and Priestess followed his gaze. Hawkins, Jury and two dozen other sailors were engaging the heavily armored fighters, but they had only defeated two of the beetles, the dark shapes slumped between the many fallen members of the crew. Hawkins was bleeding, Jury was clutching at his wounded shoulder and the others looked to be in rough shapeas well.

  Priestess realized the cannons had stopped firing, and she realized the enemy ship had retreated out of range. The light above her grew in intensity and she gasped at the sight. Bynum was channeling a massive ball of fire, easily enough to destroy everyone on the deck, and do significant damage to the ship. Without thinking, Priestess fired more darts, most of them hitting Bynum’s armor, doing some damage but not enough to stop him.