Chapter One
Chapter One
Therese planted her feet. The edge of the forest was in sight. All around her, she could
feel
their presence, but the damn creatures had once again camouflaged themselves within the shadows.
“When there’s something strange in your neighborhood…” she murmured, shield ready in one hand, hammer in the other.
Huk shifted uneasily. “Who you gonna call?”
He stood a few feet behind Therese, his goblin eyes scanning the forest. The setting sun shone through the trees, its final rays bright enough to impair their vision and leave blank spots in their eyes.
Gideon sighed. “Are we really going to do this?”
“Ghostbusters.” Ben grinned, his bowstring creaking as he held it taut.
Something moved in the corner of his eye. He released the string, letting the arrow soar through the trees and find its mark. There was a groan of pain as the projectile took a large chunk of the creature’s health.
“Bingo,” Chloe said, her
Dark Vision
identifying the ghouls dotted around the group.
Several of them rushed out of the trees in unison.
They were strange creatures. They looked like severely malnourished hags with thin, bracken-like arms and legs, and forms that could melt into their surroundings. Their skin was marbled blue and black, their eyes dark orbs in their faces.
“To the right,” Veronica shouted.
Chloe whirled, an
Ice Shard
forming in her hand. She threw the missile and pierced the ghoul’s shoulder. The ghoul was knocked back but continued coming for her.
Ben was ready. Casting
Double Shot,
he loosed two arrows, one taking its place in the ghoul’s cheek, the other skimming its skin and finding the one behind it.
The first ghoul went down, crumbling into a heap. Its body evaporated into the forest floor.
“Left!” Talbot called. “Big ones, too.”
“Spread-eagle!” Chloe shouted.
The team took their positions, putting their training into practice.
The “spread-eagle” tactic was simple, involving the team positioning themselves in a tight cluster with the warriors and clerics in the center (in this case, Talbot, Huk, Leonie, and Veronica), flanked by the two mages (Chloe and Gideon).
The tank took front and center, blocking direct oncoming attacks with their shields (Therese), while long-range fighter (Ben) took the rear.
Hovering around the edge of battle, ready to charge when required, was—
“Blueballs!” Chloe shouted after the lumbering blue toffet, already bounding on his powerful paws toward several ghouls that had materialized in the woods beside them. He was already gnashing his razor-sharp teeth, ready to take down the enemies.
“He’s got it, Chloe,” Gideon called back, summoning his
Volt Shock
spell and shooting sparks ahead.
He took a few steps forward, opening up the formation for the warriors to attack. Chloe completed the maneuver on her side, the cluster of players spreading out like the wings of an eagle.
Chloe held her sword high, imbuing the blade with
Deic Light
. KieraFreya’s mythical sword was incredible—light, sharp, and able to maneuver at her every whim to cut down the enemies ahead of her, not that she expected anything else from the personal armory of the goddess of retribution.
“A little higher,” KieraFreya whispered into Chloe’s ear, the magical armor taking a life of its own. Chloe’s sword swiped at a ghoul and created a deep cleft in its stomach, which oozed thick, dark liquid. “I personally find that if you go for the head, you only need one chop.”
“Thank you for that.” Chloe decapitated the ghoul with the next swing.
“You’re welcome. Maybe one day you, too, will become a fearsome warrior, as I once was.”
“I’m a
Battle Mage
.”
“Oh, yes. I forgot. You’re one of
those
,” KieraFreya teased.
Veronica, who had been darting between the players, casting
Healing Hands
to keep each player topped up to full health, overheard. “I told you Battle Mages were frowned upon. Finally, someone else in the group sees it.”
Chloe smirked, not wanting to show Veronica that she was getting to her. “Yeah? Well, at least I can do
this
!”
Chloe poured additional energy into her blade. Four ghouls came out of the shadows, sprinting toward her. She broke free of the group, her sword lighting up the shadows. She twirled the sword in one hand as she summoned the etheric in her mind and prepared for what was to come.
“Watch out!” someone shouted.
Chloe grinned. The ghoul’s arm reached for her and missed by an inch as she stopped and turned in a full twist around the creature. She swung her sword behind her and opened the ghoul’s back in one swift motion, then used the momentum of the blade to stab the next ghoul’s shoulder blade.
The ghoul cried out in pain as the other two came from either side.
Chloe released her grip on her sword, leaving it embedded in the ghoul’s shoulder, and spread her arms wide. With one hand, she focused on her
Shadow Tweak
ability, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction when the shadows snaked toward her, creating a small wall directly in front of the ghoul on her left.
With the other hand, she summoned
Creepers Crawlies
, bending the plant life to her will and pulling down several vines that formed a block in front of the ghoul on her left.
She raised both hands, and the spells lifted higher.
The ghoul on her left tripped over the wall and fell on its face. A blanket of shadow appeared and cloaked its body, keeping it pinned to the ground. The ghoul on her right groaned as the vines coiled around its legs and dragged it into the air, suspending it several feet up.
With deliberate slowness, Chloe sauntered over to the second ghoul and retrieved her glowing sword from its back. She kicked it away, assessing its health with
Creature Identification
and seeing the bar now on zero.
She turned to the suspended ghoul and drove the blade into the part of its body where she presumed its heart to be; she couldn’t know for sure. Either way, the area was glowing ever so faintly, thanks to her
Monster
Slayer
skill, which showed her the weak points of the monsters they battled.
In a final maneuver, Chloe sawed the blade through the shadow blanket and finished off the last of her ghouls.
Veronica and Therese stared at her in stunned admiration. Behind them, Gideon, Blueballs, Huk, Ben, and Leonie were engaged with half a dozen ghouls of their own.
“Oh, this?” Chloe said, raising an eyebrow and wandering back toward them. “It’s nothing. Anyone can do this. Y’know, master the sword
and
the etheric.”
“Can
you
do that?” Therese muttered out of the side of her mouth to Veronica as Chloe laughed and moved to join the rest of her party in battle.
Veronica’s face soured. “Shut up.”
There were more ghouls on the other side now, coming in droves from deeper in the woods.
“We must be near a nest,” Ben called to the others. “They just keep coming.”
“A nest could be fun,” Chloe said, appearing behind Ben and slapping him on the back before sprinting into the fray.
Ben shook his head and grinned. He brought his eyes back to his bow and continued raining arrows on the ghouls.
Although Huk, Leonie, Gideon, and Ben were doing a great job holding the ghouls back, Blueballs was the star of the show. His arms pinwheeled in a blur of blue fur, bowling through the creatures and weakening them for the others to pick off. Chloe could see him, a short distance into the dark, powerful arms sweeping the ghouls off their feet and hurling them against the trees.
The area lit up in a flash of blue as Gideon shot electricity from his hands.
“You might find life a bit more fun if you played with your other powers, y’know,” Chloe said.
Gideon shrugged. “I like electricity, okay? It’s…cathartic.”
“I see.”
“Besides, how else can I get the spell to level 5?”
“Level…” Chloe’s voice trailed away. She quickly scanned through her spells-dex. “That’s not fair. My best is
Telekinesis
at level 3.”
“Maybe train that one a bit more?” Gideon suggested. “Looks like it’s easier to level up one skill if you keep using it.”
Chloe shrugged. “Fine. But not now.”
Her hands lit up with the great spheres of crackling purple fire of
Purple Blaze
. Gideon stared at her wide-eyed. “We’re in a forest, the whole thing will be set ablaze!”
To his surprise, Chloe was laughing. The orbs shrank to nothing. “You should have seen your face. Of course, I’m not going to throw fire at them. I remember what happened last time, doofus. What do you think I want to do, kill one of our party?”
The party tracked the ghouls to a clearing in the trees. Ghouls piled out, one after another.
The nest
.
In the clearing was what looked like a large moss-covered rock. A hole led down into a dark tunnel. Even now, more ghouls were crawling out, reaching toward the KieraSlayers.
Huk wrinkled his nose. “It’s like watching a cow give birth.”
“How many of those have you seen?” Leonie asked.
“Enough.”
“Shall we block the hole? Find a way to stop them from coming out?” Gideon suggested.
Chloe tilted her head to try to get a better look inside the shadowed tunnel. “Unless we want to explore their hole and see what we find?”
“You sound like Ben after a few too many drinks,” Therese quipped.
“Hey!”
“We won’t fit in there,” Veronica crouched and ducked her head. Blueballs squatted at the cave’s entrance, bashing the skull of any ghoul that dared to crawl to the surface. The action reminding Chloe of the Whack-a-Mole game she’d seen at arcades. “It’s too small.”
“Huk could go,” Leonie suggested.
“You want to bet?” he replied.
“Or Therese?”
Therese scoffed. “I’d sooner lick Blueballs’ backside.”
Blueballs cocked an eyebrow.
“Oh, no offense, pal.”
“Okay, well, blockage it is, then,” Veronica said, clapping. “Who’s going to do the honors?”
They turned to find Chloe already focusing on the tunnel. Her hands glowed with etheric energy, and soon they could hear the rock sinking into the ground. The cave entrance closed, looking more like a clamshell than the hole it was.
The cries of the ghouls quieted to a soft mumble as Chloe finished focusing on her
Telekinesis
spell. “There. Problem solved.”
They all nodded, each taking a second to stare at their notifications and allow Veronica to heal any wounds they might have acquired.
Chloe stared at her own menu and saw the updates in bright letters.
Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 7)
+530 exp
Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 9)
+590 exp
Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 8)
+550 exp
Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 8)
+550 exp
Enemy defeated: Ghoul (Lv 8)
+550 exp
Chloe was also pleased to see that her two spells had leveled up.
Spell power increased: Creepers Crawlies (Lv 2)
Now that your spell has leveled up you can—
you guessed it
—control vines and foliage with a greater level of efficiency. A wider range of plant life is available for your manipulation, too.
Requirements: n x 17MP per second (where n is equal to the number of seconds taken to cast the spell)
Spell power increased: Shadow Tweak (Lv 2)
Ever thought of producing puppet shows? Just an idea. I suppose there are better ways to manipulate the shadows (extra points for creativity and innovation).
Requirements: n x 12MP (where n is equal to the number of seconds taken to cast the spell)
Not bad
, Chloe thought.
Maybe I should try harder to level these bad boys up.
Not that she hadn’t already been trying. Spells seemed a lot more reluctant to grow than her other skills. She wondered about their increased potential, making a note for herself that when she had a quiet moment, she would experiment with her newfound etheric skills.
Finally, scrolling through her menu, she looked up her skills and stats, curious to see how close she was to obtaining her next character level. She had a hunch something would happen at level 15, but she wasn’t sure what.
After her review, Chloe was pleased to see that she wasn’t far from reaching level 15. Thanks to the KieraSlayers’ journey from Killink View toward the mountain city of Hammersworth, they had encountered a whole host of local monsters and enemies that had boosted their experience.
Which was perfect, considering she now had one final obstacle to face before she finally reunited all of the pieces of KieraFreya’s armor: finding and taming KieraFreya’s noble steed, Shikora.
Who knew what dangers lay along that path, and what strength they would need to complete the last of KieraFreya’s mission? With their party down two men, they needed all the bonuses and benefits they could get. It had been bad enough losing Jessie in the battle for the armor, but to have to leave Tag safely guarded in Killink View while they continued on their travels without him?
That had been a tough pill to swallow.
Even now Chloe could picture his lifeless body on the bed in the sleeping chambers of the Twisted Spire inn. The real Tag was logged out and radio silent since the loss of his digital girlfriend.
They had left a note with the innkeeper, and Ben continued to try to communicate with Tag in the real world, but they couldn’t stop and wait while Tag dealt with his demons. They were a party, and they had a job to do.
When they emerged from the trees, the group blinked stupidly at the bloody sunset beyond the vast stretch of the Yoren mountains ahead. Fields and streams covered the several-mile stretch between them and their destination. Small villages and farmhouses littered the land that bordered the legendary city of Hammersworth.
“Is that it?” Veronica asked, coming up beside Chloe.
Chloe shielded her eyes. She could see the high white stone walls encircling the city, which was half-tucked into the mountainside, reminding her of her first sight of Killink View.
She nodded. “I don’t know what else it could be.”
“And do we really think he’ll be there?”
Chloe took a deep breath; the description of the man Prince Gilligan had told them about was still fixed in her mind, their only lead on this wild goose chase across Obsidian.
“Dear God, I hope so,” Chloe replied. “Because if he’s not, we’ll have come all this way for nothing.”
“Not for nothing,” Gideon said.
Chloe raised an eyebrow.
“Every step we take together brings us closer as a party. No time is wasted in
Obsidian
.”
Chloe smiled, pride swelling in her heart. She looked ahead and took her first steps onto Hammersworth’s farmland.