by Byron Kings
“Like the rest of us,” Morgana said.
Why am I becoming so enamored with her?
“I’m here to have fun,” Harper said. “Can we talk about more pressing matters?”
“We’re close!” Dot yelled from up ahead.
“Everything clear?” I asked as she walked up.
“Yes,” she said, stopping as we did. “We’re close.”
“Good,” Newton said. “I’m tired of walking. This better pay off.”
“It will,” I said. “Trust me. Come on, let’s keep going.”
We continued walked up the bank of the river. After one more winding bend, we came upon a miraculous waterfall. I stopped to admire the craftsmanship. The world designers in Battle Empire were some of the very best in their field which was one of the reasons I picked the game to spend the rest of my life in.
“Shower time!” Newton yelled, running forward.
As he splashed toward the waterfall, I glanced around the small cove. Not seeing anything, I waded into the water myself, the women following behind me.
“There’s a cave behind the water!” Newton shouted as he emerged from behind the falling water. “Smells like hell, but I bet the sword’s close. This is so exciting!”
“Eyes open,” I said. “There’s likely to be something guarding it.”
“A cuerno lich runs the temple under the earth,” Dot said. “She’s a bad, bad bitch.”
I fought back a smile as I nodded.
“We’ve got a good team,” I said. “We’ll take her out. Let’s go!”
One after another, we walked under the rushing water. When I could see on the other side, I saw a wide cavern carved into the rock. Dozens of cuerno bodies littered the ground. As we walked out of the water, the rotting corpses came to life and scrambled toward us.
“Go for the brains!” I shouted, recognizing cuerno zombies when I saw them.
The non-playable race of primitive lizard beings could morph into many forms in the game. Undead weren’t very rare, but they meant something even more evil was likely nearby spawning them into the game through necromancy.
I stopped and pierced the skull of one of the undead cuerno with my sword. After screeching, it fell to the floor of the cave, writhing around. Two more came at me from the left. I dodged then dispatched them with a slash and two stabs.
“Hold the line!” I shouted as I noticed Newton falling back. “They’re gonna swarm!”
Even more zombies shuffled out from a tunnel on the far side of the cavern. I held my ground as a mound of their bodies formed a wall in front of me. The vile creatures scrambled over their fallen comrades, desperately running toward me.
“Fire in the hole!” Harper shouted.
A moment later, a fireball zoomed toward the other side of the cavern. It hit a throng of zombies stumbling forward and exploded. Burning, rotting flesh filled the air as a good chunk of the creatures went down. I kicked the pile of bodies in front of me over then leaped over, running forward to take out the stragglers still standing.
<< Battle complete! >>
<< You get 6,000 xp! >>
<< You have 12,328,000 xp >>
<< 272,000 xp needed to level.>>
“Everyone okay?” I asked, glancing around.
The others called out one after the other. I saw a pile of rotting wooden chests near the tunnel leading out of the cavern. After checking to make sure they weren’t mimics, I opened them one after the other. None of them had anything of value except for the last one which held a smaller metal box full of all sorts of gems.
“Come here, Newton,” I said, picking it up. “Something for you to carry.”
“What is it?” he asked, walking over.
I held out the box with the lid open. He grinned.
“Not bad. We should go back out and heal up,” he said.
I shook my head.
“No, we’re going deeper. The horn sword must be in the temple Dot was talking about.” I turned to her. “This is the way to it, right?”
She nodded, her lips twitching as she stared into the dark tunnel.
“Have you been down there before?” I asked.
She ignored me. Newton walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Leave me alone!” she snapped then walked toward the tunnel. “Let’s go.”
What the hell was that all about? I wondered as I motioned for the others to follow her. Newton lit a torch, but the light barely lit the way ahead. Something about the deep, dark rocks of the wall eerily soaked up all the light. At least we had enough room to walk three abreast. If anything came at us, we’d be ready to take it down.
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CHAPTER 12
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Cuerno-Lich is a Bad, Bad Bitch
The wide, natural tunnel ended at a carved doorway leading to a more complete complex underneath the jungle floor. I noticed several large roots from the trees above here and there as we looked down both directions of the wide hallway.
“Any clues, Dot?” I asked.
“My mother’s around here somewhere,” she said.
“Your mother?”
“I’m here to kill her with your help,” she said.
Newton turned me and gulped.
“This way,” Dot said, hurriedly walking down the hall.
I motioned for the others to follow as I took off after her. The musty smell of death hung thick in the air, getting worse the deeper into the temple we walked. Dot stopped near a door, reaching out for the handle.
“Whoa, hold on,” I said, grabbing her arm.
She turned to me, a nasty look on her face. “Let me go.”
“The door’s trapped,” I said, letting go of her. “Touch it if you want to die.”
“It’s trapped?” she asked, turning toward the door.
“Yeah,” I said, pointing. “See that notch near the handle?”
I put my arm out and pushed her back a few feet before kicking the door. A thick blade shot out of the wood. It would’ve taken off the hand of anyone opening the door.
“Thank you,” Dot said. “You saved me. I owe you one.”
“Newton told me about it,” I said, nodding to him.
If he likes NPCs, I might as well help him get a hot one.
“Thank you,” Dot said, moving to Newton. “I owe you my life.”
“We can talk about it later,” he said. “I want to see what’s behind the door.”
As the others gathered around me, I reached out and carefully turned the handle. The door swung inward, squealing loudly. So much for surprise. I peered into the dark room, smelling more musty death. A few wooden chests lined the wall across from the door. Two other doors occupied one of the other walls.
I walked in and noticed a closet on another wall. Various dark gray robes hung from pegs on the walls. I walked over and grabbed one with a skull and bones painted on the lapel.
“They’re for my mother’s cult members,” Dot said. “I hate her so much.”
“Let’s put them on, so we blend in,” I said. “A little discretion will help us surprise her. Does she have many followers?”
“Many cuernos follow her,” Dot said. “She’s corrupted so many.”
“I don’t want to put on one of those nasty robes,” Harper said.
“You won’t have to wear it long,” I said. “Unless you have a better idea?”
She waved her hand and disappeared. “How’s this?”
“Nice,” I said, grinning.
The rest of us donned robes and put the hoods over our heads, disguising us from view. I heard chanting in the distance. Dot walked over to one of the two doors on the same wall and opened it slightly. The chanting got louder before she closed it again.
“Come on,” she said, waving us over. “The ceremony is about to start.”
A cuerno lich wouldn’t be an easy kill, but the horn sword would be worth it. I walked over wit
h the others as Dot opened the door. We went through the doorway and into a large chamber with two sides full of long, wooden benches. I took a seat on one near the back to come up with a plan. A few dozen cultists sat near the front as a half-dead female cuerno ranted.
“This world will be ours!” she snarled, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
“Fireball?” I asked, hoping Harper was nearby.
“Already on it,” she answered.
She came back into view as a fiery ball of flames shot toward the stage. It exploded right before it reached, engulfing almost all the cultists in fire. Their screams filled the giant chamber. I got to my feet and threw off the robes.
“Intruders!” the cuerno lich shouted, pointing a skeletal finger at us.
The few cultists still alive turned and began casting spells. I dove under one of the benches as a volley of energy arrows flew through the air. The others hadn’t moved as quick, but only Newton got hit. He screamed and fell to the floor, shaking and convulsing.
“Get him a healing potion!” I shouted as I crawled forward on my stomach.
I peeked my head up and saw Dot running toward the stage like a mad woman. She stepped over all the burned bodies then leaped toward her undead mother. I stood and drew my weapon, wanting to take out the rest of the spellcasters as soon as possible.
“Out of the way!” Harper shouted.
She cast a spell, causing half of the remaining cultists to fall to the floor.
“They’ll be asleep for a while,” she said. “Get the rest of them. I’m almost out of mana.”
Morgana joined me as I rushed toward the front of the room. A few of the cultists began to cast, but we reached them before they were able to get anything off. I sliced the left arm off one of them before spinning around and lopping the head off another.
“Die, mother!” Dot screamed on the stage.
I glanced over and saw her struggling with the cuerno lich. Had her mother been a cuerno? I pushed the questions out of my mind and continued killing cultists. One after another, they went down as Morgana and I fought our way forward.
The cuerno lich raised her hands, palms out, and shot electricity at the Daughter of Time. Her name made more sense as I leaped up onto the stage.
“Leave my friend alone!” I shouted, getting the lich’s attention.
She turned and hissed, raising her hands again. I rushed forward and swung with my sword. The attack hit but my weapon bounced off, doing almost no damage. What the fuck? Spell? I backed up as lightning arced out of her hands again, hitting me. My body shook as I fell to the wooden floor of the stage.
“No!” Morgana shouted then ran past me.
I heard the cuerno lich scream as I scrambled to my feet. Morgana had hit her and managed to do some damage. Did she have a better sword than me? I turned and looked for Harper as she climbed up on the stage too.
“Need a buff?” she asked then grinned.
“Yes,” I said. “Hurry!”
She cast a spell that engulfed me in blue energy. The buff would allow me to at least do some damage with my non-magic weapon. I ran forward as the lich electrocuted Morgana. She fell to the floor as I reached them and let loose a flurry of swings. Most of them connected, causing the cuerno lich to hiss and move back, right into Dot.
“Die, mother!” the Daughter of Time yelled then attacked with her bare hands.
She clawed and scratched at the cuerno lich’s rotting face. After the attack, the undead creature moved her arms and blinked out of existence? Is she invisible or did she teleport or blink somewhere?
“Can anyone see her?” I yelled.
Newton ran up, out of breath, holding a monocle to his eye.
“My lens of true-sight doesn’t see anything,” he said.
I glanced over at Harper as she scanned the room.
“She’s nearby!” Dot shouted then ran toward the back of the stage.
“Follow her,” I said, doing so myself.
The others scrambled after me as I followed Dot behind the stage. She walked forward with purpose, intent on her gruesome task. I kept my eyes peeled in front of her, waiting for something to jump out at us. We needed to kill this bitch.
“I hear something,” Morgana said at my side. “Back there.”
She pointed to a door. Dot stopped in front of it before flinging it open. A shrill whistle filled the air like some sort of alarm. We filed into the room with Newton shutting the door behind us. I looked around, noticing a desk and several bookshelves.
“Where are you, mother?” Dot asked.
“Here, child!” a voice replied.
The cuerno lich appeared right next to Dot and grabbed her by the throat with a bony hand, squeezing. I ran forward to free the Daughter of Time, but when I reached them, she had changed. Red energy replaced her eyes as she turned and ran toward me at full speed. I dodged at the last second, barely getting out of the way.
“She’s turned!” I yelled. “Take them both out!”
I pierced the cuerno lich with the tip of my sword. When the blade plunged into what remained of her withered stomach section, she screamed and reached toward me. I pulled the sword out and stepped back, not wanting to get choked out and turned into undead.
Morgana and Newton both attacked the undead Daughter of Time while I concentrated on her mother, the cuerno lich. Harper’s enchantment helped me do some damage and keep it distracted and unable to cast any spells. Every time it reached for my neck, I stepped back and taught it a lesson by slashing it with my sword.
The undead Dot screamed behind me. Newton ran past right after, screaming bloody murder himself as he plowed into the cuerno lich, toppling her over. The undead mother grabbed at his neck, so I stepped forward and aimed my sword at her throat. My sword pierced her windpipe, causing her to gasp and claw at the wound.
Newton rolled away as I slashed at her left arm, chopping it off completely. She raised her remaining hand to cast, but the stump stopped her from doing anything. I summoned all my might and stabbed at where her heart would be if she were still alive.
The blade pierced her thick, leathery skin, sinking in almost all the way to the hilt. Another shrill shriek filled the air as the cuerno lich died. I glanced around, ready to take on anything that came at us, but a familiar game notification popped up.
<< Battle complete! >>
<< You get 11,000 xp! >>
<< You have 12,339,000 xp >>
<< 261,000 xp needed to level.>>
So close yet so fucking far away!
“Everyone okay?” I asked, looking around. “Well, except for Dot.”
“Noooooo!” Newton screamed, dropping to his knees and holding his head. “Why did she have to die that way? This game is more fucked than the real world!”
“Hey, man, cool down, it’s okay,” I said, walking over to him.
“No, it’s not,” he said, looking up at me with tears streaming from his eyes. “I loved her.”
“You can’t love a fucking computer-run NPC,” I said bluntly.
“Give him a break,” Morgana said, walking up. “I feel bad about Dot too.”
“She was nice, but we’ve got something else to think about,” I said, looking for a secret door. “The horn sword has to be around here somewhere. If this isn’t the end of the quest plot, I’ll log out and never come back to this server the rest of my life.”
“Don’t talk that way,” Morgana said, surprising me.
Was Harper’s friend falling for me?
“It’s the truth,” I said. “That sword’s gotta be around... Here we go…Found it…”
After tapping a hidden button, a section of the wall disappeared.
“Not a bad illusion,” I said. “We’ll need to use that when we build our castle.”
I glanced into the secret room and saw a glowing horn sword hanging on the wall. The bone hilt carved from one of the original cuernos from eons ago gave it away. I rushed over and picked it up, foolishly not checking for traps. N
othing went off, but I was underwhelmed as I picked up the sword and hefted it in my hands.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, staring at it.
“What is it?” Harper asked.
I checked the stats and saw the sword was uncharged.
“Since when do horn swords need to be charged?” I asked.
“All of them need an initial charge,” Morgana said, surprising me.
“Oh?” I glanced at her. “Go on.”
“That’s all I know,” she said, avoiding my gaze.
“I know someone who can charge it,” Newton said. “Really. That’s why I was coming for the sword myself.”
“The sword’s mine,” I said, clutching it tighter.
“I know,” Newton said, raising his hands. “Calm down. I hate being leader.”
“How do I get it charged?” I asked.
Newton smiled.
“There’s a female cuerno in my village who knows how to do it,” he said.
“Great. Can you take us there?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but there’s one problem.”
“What?” Morgana asked, hands on hips.
“King Gregor has been harassing my village,” he said. “I need your help to save them.”
“We’ll help,” I said.
“There’s more stuff over here,” Harper said.
I smiled. The cuerno lich hadn’t been easy to kill, but we’d done it. By arriving in the new zone first and claiming the horn sword, my world was about to change. All I needed to do was get it charged. That couldn’t be too difficult. Right?
We spent an hour packing up the rest of the loot before leaving the underground temple behind. Other players would be descending on the site, but none of them would find the horn sword. I had it with me — one step closer to claiming my throne.
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CHAPTER 13
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What Kind of Village is This, Anyway?
We made it back to the beach just before the sun disappeared over the horizon. After climbing into the rowboat with all our loot, we rowed toward the dragon ship anchored nearby. I kept the horn sword wrapped up in a blanket and hidden in my belongings. Until I charged it up, I didn’t want anyone to try to take it from me.