Chapter One: Reptids' Cave
Dagran's POV
Syrenne and I could hear the laughs as the Reptid we were pursuing got farther and farther away from us. We had originally landed side-by-side, but Syrenne was already racing ahead.
" Wait you scaly bastards!" she called. "Dagran move it. Over here!" I started to follow, but something told me to turn around, but there was only a wall. Odd. I kicked it and it collapsed, showing me the treasure chest behind it. Inside was only a shard of something, but I decided to keep it anyway. Quickly, I raced to where Syrenne was.
"You never said we'd be playing tag," she commented as the two Reptids turned to fight us.
"Just do your job," I said as I leaped up to slash at one of them. Syrenne gave an annoyed sighed, but didn't stop attacking the archer with her double blades.
"By your command."
"Think of the money," I said, trying to encourage her.
"I'd rather think of all the beer you're gonna buy me with it!" She retorted. I smiled.
"Only if you get more of these things than me," I told her sternly.
"Try not to fall too far behind, eh?" The last bit of her sentence was almost drowned out by the ceiling in front us collapsing.
"A trap!" I shouted fast. We quickly dived for cover outside of the condemned area. I vaulted over the rubble that remained, Syrenne following quickly behind. They led us out to an open area, with a large bridge in the center. I got the feeling that things were about to go downhill. A high pitched whistle met our ears.
"Bring it on," Syrenne said, dead serious. We raced forward, splitting up as Reptids jumped down from the ceiling. I aimed a diagonal slash at one, killing it, before turning to face his partner. I quickly stunned it with my sword before dealing with it in the same way I had done in the other. I crouched behind a fallen pillar as a blade came towards where my chest was seconds before, the return trimming my hair slightly. I quickly vaulted over the pillar and as I descended down again, splitting the confused Reptid's skull. I rolled around yet another, and hit it on the way back up. Unfortunately, my blade only pierced skin deep with that, nowhere near as hard as my other attacks. Not wasting any time, I quickly stabbed it straight through the heart, my withdrawal bringing me back-to-back with Syrenne. The contact was only for a moment though, as both of us were still on the attack. As I spun around while finishing another Reptid off in this seemingly endless swarm, I caught sight of something.
"Syrenne! Watch your back!" I called, racing over to assist her before she became surrounded. As I watched, she turned and put one of her two swords up, causing the supposed-to-be lethal attack to transform into a barely breaking skin harmless slash. Of course, her opponent didn't have such luck, as it was almost immediately turned into a dead heap by the blade she didn't use to defend herself.
"Thanks," she said. "They just keep on coming!" More fell from above, one almost landing on top of her. "Damn! What the hell is Zael doing?" Isn't that something that I'd like to know.
Zael's POV
"Yurick let's move," I said as Yurick joined me down in the caves.
"You think Dagran and Syrenne are ahead?" Yurick asked me. Dagran's plan had been for us to split up into two groups: Group A and Group B. Yurick and I were Group B.
"Yeah," I told my eye patched pal, "let's go and find them." We started walking along the higher route, not running into anything until we reached a doorway. Quickly, we ducked along the edges so the Reptids ahead wouldn't see us.
"This place is crawling with these things," Yurick commented.
"What do we do?" I asked.
"I don't think they've noticed us yet." I nodded; this meant that it was my call what we did. I looked out into the room. I could tell that the three pillars in there were unstable. They looked weak enough that a well-aimed fireball could take them down, thus squishing the Reptid's down below. I realized that we only had one shot, if we didn't get it perfect the first time then they would realize we were here. Which one?I carefully examined each one, before noticing that the middle one looked almost split in two. Perfect.
"Yurick, can you shoot a fireball at that pillar?" I asked.
"The center one?" I nodded. Yurick began charging up his attack, and started floating from the sheer amount of power, just as all mages do. Quickly, he launched the fireball towards the pillar, and it collapsed, squishing the Reptid's underneath and making our job a whole lot easier. We started across the room, when we heard a whistle.
"Zael, it's the Reptid's horn. Dagran and Syrenne have messed up!" Yurick exclaimed.
"Yurick let's go! No one's dying while I'm here!" I almost-shouted seriously. I was going just slow enough so that Yurick could keep up. Today I'll rescue you, Dagran.
"Wait! I'm pretty sure those two can look after themselves." Yurick stated.
"They're my friends, I can't just sit here!" I replied, racing ahead.
"I'm not really into that kind of thing," Yurick admitted with a sigh, following my lead. I slowly heard the shouts drawing nearer.
"They're close! I can hear them!" I exclaimed.
"Zael stop! Don't get carried away!" Yurick told me sternly, shouting slightly to be heard. We entered the room and took cover. I peeked around the pillar and looked downwards to see Syrenne and Dagran fighting. "That's a lot of Reptids." I nodded an agreement, before diving down to join them, leaving Yurick in the sort of safe zone to cast his magic. From up there only the archers could hit him, and they were more focused on the three of us down here than him.
"Oh, now he decides to show up. The mighty Zael to the rescue," Syrenne said, her words dripping with sarcasm.
"Me and Syrenne have got these ones covered. You focus on the others!" Dagran ordered. "The archers on the bridge are calling reinforcements. Deal with them!" Normally I would knock them off of the bridge with my arrows, but since I had already become part of the fight, it would be suicide to attempt it. I wouldn't be able to aim properly while continuously dodging arrows. I looked up at it, and then got an idea.
"Yurick! Destroy that bridge!" As I stated earlier, nobody even knew he was up there yet, besides the three of us fighting down here.
"I don't know. It looks pretty tough." Yurick's voice wavered slightly, and I knew he was doubting himself and his abilities again. There was only one way to deal with this.
"Yurick!" I shouted, mimicking the tone Dagran had used on me many, many times before. This caused him to man up.
"Fine. Don't blame me if it goes wrong!" he called back. I didn't have any plans to. I rejoined in the fighting as yet another round of Reptids was called down by the archers. I was quickly caught up inside the battle, slashing at one enemy, only to spin around to face another. Yet before I knew it, the bridge fell, nearly taking me down with it. There were only a few Reptids left after that, most being squished by the bridge, and eventually they were all gone. Yurick finally hopped down. He and Syrenne started talking about how we would get out of this chamber.
"As far as I can tell, there are no other exits out of here," she said.
"What? Really?" Yurick responded, surprised. Syrenne snorted, pretending to be offended.
"Really." I breathed a sigh of relief and sat against a fallen pillar, regaining my strength. It was that simple action that saved my life. The others were near where we'd come in, when there was a crash from behind me, and piece of debris hit the pillar, causing it to shatter, and I fell over onto my back from suddenly losing the object I had been leaning on. Another piece flew less than a foot above me, where my head been, and towards Syrenne, who had enough time to dodge so that it missed her completely. I heard Yurick's cry of surprise, but paid little attention to it, instead looking at what had made the hole. It was huge, twice the size of your average Reptid, and looked twice as deadly. It wore a mask and carried a shield, which was all I noticed before it let out a deep scream, probably its battle-cry.
"Look at the size of that!" Yurick said, still surprised. Then it was upon us.
"Zael, Syrenne! Protect Yurick as he's casting!" Came Dagran's orders, before he rushed right up to the big one, Syrenne following.
"Okay, understood," I said. I was about to join them, when out of corner of my eye I spotted Reptid swordsmen, one in particular coming dangerously close to our mage. Not skipping a beat, I spun and ran, giving it a good, hard kick. It fell to the ground and didn't get up. I quickly jumped next to Yurick, who had finished shaking off the surprise.
"I'm counting on both of you," Yurick said, and I knew he wasn't thinking when he said it.
"Or we could just let the Reptids take him of our hands..." Syrenne suggested, joking. Yurick began floating, and I was close enough to feel the heat coming off of him. Another one! It was heading towards Syrenne's open back, running right by me. I quickly slashed it, causing its attention to turn onto me. I guarded as it tried a vertical slash, the sword sliding across my arm which was luckily covered in a thick jacket. I immediately counter-attacked, using the same move it had, except mine was successful in splitting its skull. I turned as Yurick finished casting, launching a fireball that created a flaming circle on the floor. Luckily, the attack only hit the Reptid, so Dagran and Syrenne were fine. It seemed to be weak to the flame, which was a good thing, considering Yurick wasn't exactly the best physical fighter. Dagran and Syrenne's blades were literally on fire as the slashed away, and the giant Reptid soon fell.
"Well looks like the coast is clear," Yurick said, and he was right. There were no other enemies nearby, so we started towards the entrance that they had made. I picked up some arrows along the way that one of the Reptid's had dropped. As I put them into the special pocket on my sheath, I recognized the design as a Wizard Slayer. I whistled, glad that none of the ten had been fired. They were deadly to a wizard of any kind, killing them either instantly or within 30 seconds of impact. I quickened my pace to make up for the time I had wasted.
"Right. Is everyone OK?" Dagran asked us after I had rejoined them.
"Yeah, that was easy," Syrenne said.
"Let's move on," I suggested, not wanting to waste any time. I was suddenly reminded of how we had come to be here…
A few days earlier…
They were all gathered around a table in the tavern we were currently staying in, awaiting the news. Well everyone besides Lowell, who was getting another drink. Dagran and I walked over. I watched as they all seemed to stop and look up. My shirt was still soaked from our last job, so I chose to go without it.
"Looks like we have a new client!" Dagran said. Syrenne gave a loud cheer, that caused everyone in the tavern to stare at us.
"All right!" Syrenne shouted, waving her tankard in the air. "Just as we were about to run out of money, too!" she had a smile on, and was obviously drunk. Lowell finally came back over, standing behind me and Dagran.
"Thanks to someone getting hammered all the time…" Lowell taunted her. I leaned away; not wanting to get drawn into to the battle that I knew was going to come out. Syrenne stood up immediately.
"Shut it! I risk my life out there! Let me drink in peace!" Syrenne shouted.
"So, may I ask who our next client is?" Mirania asked, putting down her tea. She is our peacemaker, always intervening in time to stop fights from breaking out between Lowell and Syrenne.
"It's Count Arganan," Dagran answered.
"Wow. The ruler of Lazulis Island? That's quite a result." Yurick commented.
"There's a huge cannon on that island," Dagran continued. "But all that magic is dangerous. It draws all kinds of monsters to the area."
"And we have to clean up, right?" Syrenne pretended to guess. Dagran blinked slowly looking up for a second, before staring at Syrenne with his yellow eyes. I still don't understand why they are yellow.
"You have a problem with that?" he asked.
"Mmm-mmm." She smiled and shook her head no. "As long as I get paid, I ain't complaining!" she said. Lowell snorted.
"Yeah right," he said.
"Anyway, I reckon it's time to celebrate!" she continued, ignoring the comment. "Barman! Hit us with the best you've got!" she shouted, waving over. There was laughter at our table as the confused barman raced over...
We continued onwards through the dank rock hallway. I took the lead, since I was the fastest out of us, and didn't slow down until I saw a strange marking on the floor, grayed out. It was definitely not a human or Reptid marking, and was to perfect to be fully natural. I didn't realize I had been staring at it until the others were practically on top of me. I glanced up, and, noticing the wide opening, took cover on one side of the natural doorway. Dagran joined me on the other side of the doorway as I looked out into the partially flooded room ahead of us. We were well above the water, which was a good thing as I noticed the enemies gathered in the center.
"Take a good look. Some of them can use magic," Dagran warned me. I nodded understandingly. "Zael go and flank them from the right. At your signal, we'll charge them from the front."
"Got it," I said. Yurick nodded.
"We'll finish this before they know what's hit them." Syrenne chuckled. Dagran then proceeded to give us some stats, from what he had observed. "The healer in the center will cause us some grief. I want this fast and clean!"
"Leave it to me," I said.
"They've got lookouts in position already," Dagran warned. I started down the right path, the others finding cover up ahead, out of sight of the scouts. When I reached the bottom, I quickly scanned the area with my eyes before I saw the staircase leading upwards. When I reached the top, I was behind the Reptids. Perfect. I went as close as I dared, before hiding behind a wall. I peeked out and, remembering Dagran's comment about the healer, took out my crossbow. I reached into my sheath a grabbed a Wizard Slayer, aiming for a headshot. I fired.
"Now!" I yelled, jumping out and racing towards the mage. It was easy to take down, considering it was charging up an attack, leaving it vulnerable. A single slash and it had fallen. As two of the swordsmen raced for Syrenne and Dagran, I wondered where the third one was. I spun and I found it behind a wall. Diving, I raced around the other side, from behind it. I hit it hard enough that the Reptid went up into the air, before being forcefully brought down by my sword. I turned to find that the other Reptids had already been dealt with. I walked over to the center of the platform.
"So, how the hell are we supposed to get over there, then?" Syrenne asked, looking at the path in front of us- or lack of one.
"I'm pretty sure this has something to do with it," Yurick stated, looking at the markings on the floor.
"Huh? Hey Syrenne, can you take a step backwards?" I asked, and she obliged, managing to take a seat up on top of one of the pillars. I looked at the triangle underneath where she had been standing. There was a hook attached to it, and three points around it. "What does this do?" I asked myself. It was a struggled to lift the triangle and turn it around so it'd fit inside the other three holes, but was well worth the effort, as three stalactites fell from the ceiling and into the water.
"Who'd make something so dangerous?! It's totally irresponsible!" Syrenne scolded as she jumped down from her perch.
"I'd say it definitely look man-made," Yurick answered. We ran across the new pathway and it wasn't until we had entered the tunnel on the other side that anyone talked.
"Dagran, I'm hungry," Syrenne whined. Yurick and I, who had managed to get ahead of them, took our respective positions, Yurick leaned against a wall and I sat down on a nearby rock.
"Let's try to be professionals, OK?" Dagran said.
"What? If I'm hungry, then I'm hungry!" She responded. "If I get killed 'cos I'm too hungry and weak to fight, then don't blame me!" If she got killed, we'd probably be more upset about the fact that she was dead than about whose fault it was that she was dead. I stood up and began walking again as the duo caught up.
"If you've got the energy to whine like that, I'm sure you'll be fine," Yurick stated, resolving the issue. We made a left turn with a tight squeeze up ahead. The path went on about a hundred more feet, before ending in a small area where two of us could just manage to stand side-by-side.
"Any luck?" Dagran asked, stopping behind me. I looked closely at the wall in front of me.
"I can see light," I said.
"Hey, try giving it a little tap," Syrenne suggested. I moved over slightly, and roundhouse kicked it, causing to wall up ahead to collapse. "You don't mess around!" she said with a slight laugh.
"This just never ends," Yurick said, hint of a whine in his voice. I ducked down slightly, the hole wasn't that big, and walked through the opening. On the other side, we were in a vast man-made chamber, the complete opposite of the caves we were in before.
"Where are we?" Dagran asked.
"Some kind of ruins."
"It's cold, it's weird, and it stinks. I don't like it," Syrenne said. I took a deep breath, and smelt the revolting stench. We walked into the room, and I saw what stunk. Skeletons were dismantled on the floor, weapons and clothing in good shape. I got a bad feeling in my stomach, and apparently the others did to, as we walked to what looked like a place that a hallway would be in.
"A dead end," Yurick said with a sigh, his arms crossed in front of him.
"Yurick, let's look for an alternate route," Dagran suddenly suggested.
"Hey, shouldn't we stick together?" I asked.
"No, it's easier to scout with fewer people." Dagran and Yurick began to walk away. "Zael, Syrenne, you two rest while you can. I'm sure there's more trouble waiting for us." Then they were gone, vanished back into the caves. I felt slightly on edge, as I took seat.
"Zael, keep your pants on. You'd better get some rest while you can," Syrenne said, sensing my mood.
"I can't help it if I'm worried," I responded. Syrenne sighed.
"Dagran can look after himself! Or are you getting all scared 'cos he's not here to protect you?" She commented.
"What? No! I'm a grown man Syrenne," I stated, starting to become annoyed with the
"Ooh, a grown man, are we? How big and macho," Syrenne teased me. "Well, I guess you have grown up a bit. But you're still just a kid to me and Dagran." I was the second youngest, the youngest being Yurick, but since he always acted older and more serious than he was, I was often the one treated as the youngest. Besides moments like these, I didn't mind much, or think twice about it.
Anyway, so there we were, sitting down against some pillars. The room was silent. Until, crack. I jumped to my feet.
"What was that?" I asked, surprised. Syrenne got up as well walking towards me.
"It's just the wind! Don't be such a chicken!" she said reassuringly, leaning on my shoulder and giving me a playful punch to the stomach. Then the noise came again and again, repeating over and over. "Hm?" I knew she had finally heard it. I looked over to where the noise was coming from. Before us, the skeletons popped up, causing us to shout out of surprise. "Today is not my day. Look if you're this big manly man, help me sort out these things." She unsheathed her dual blades as one drew closer. "Dagran never told us about these things!" she shouted as she slashed at it. I followed her lead, and back slashed the same undead… thingy. It collapsed again, and I spun around, kicking the Undead behind me, before slashing at it.
"I can hold them!" I shouted, before the wall behind us started to retract into the floor. "Wait. Is this a secret path?" Syrenne grabbed my wrist and started pulling me down the hallway.
"Zael, in here, now. We can buy some time," she ordered, releasing me. One of them was right behind us, and I wasted a second to spin around and slash it. "What the hell are you doing?! Move it!" I picked up the pace. "This way! I said move! They're catching up!" I looked behind and she was right. Shoot. I ran as fast as I could, and was quickly next to Syrenne, who had been almost at the other side of the hallway. "Not much further. Keep it up!" She said, vaulting herself off of pillars to keep up with me. Within seconds, we were through, into another chamber must like the last, except without the skeletons. "I'll hold them off here. You search for another way out." I hated to leave her fighting all those Undead all alone, but knew that it would probably be easier to find an escape route than to stand and fight. I quickly checked along the walls. There was the main set of stairs right in front of us, and I raced over to inspect them.
"No good. Damn, a dead end!" I muttered to myself.
"Looks like this is it!" Syrenne said. I raced to the other stairs, the ones leading to the wall.
"These stairs are guarded by the curse of the undead," A listless voice said in my head. I turned around in time to witness a sight I will never forget.
Syrenne was surrounded, and the Undead were closing in on her. More were coming, but there was one in particular, the last one to come in, who caught my attention. In its bony clutches was a crossbow. Syrenne was hacking away at the ones surrounding her as the bow was raised. The arrow in it was one that I recognized with a deadly shock. It was a Poison Arrow.
"Syrenne!" I shouted. She turned around just as the arrow was fired. I watched in what seemed to slow-motion as the arrow pierced skin, the determined look on Syrenne's face turning into one of surprise, and how she was forcefully knocked off of feet and onto the ground. I raced over, kneeling down. "Syrenne!" As I looked down, the arrow and the world around me dissolved into nothingness.
A scream. That's what came to me first. I watched from my hiding place as the bandit who had hurt my mum walked away, as my mum fell to the burning floor of our house. I approached slowly, scared as the place that I called home collapsed all around me.
"M-Mummy?!" I asked, my voice wavering, terrified. Her pained answer was two words.
"Zael… Run!"
"Run away! Zael!" Syrenne told me.
"No!" I cried. "M-mum… Syrenne…" It was too late. She was gone, just like my mum. Just like everyone. I'm always alone. "I don't wanna be alone anymore! I'm sick of it! Sick of all the pain!" I shouted, as loud as I could.
"You can hear my voice, yes?" a voice asked. I looked for the owner, but found none. Instead, only a blue light emanating from the statue behind me was there.
"What is this?" I asked. I was in standing in front of the statue. I don't even recall how, just that I was there. In the center, a small section of light stopped glowing, showing the wall behind it. "Who is it? Who's there?"
"Your heart is like mine," the voice continued, echoing against the walls. "Filled with loneliness and sorrow."
"Who… who are you?" I tried again. Instead of an answer, the missing circle of light began to shine, and I put my hands up in a futile attempt to stop from going blind, a cry of surprise escaping my lips. It quickly turned into a cry of pain as the light around me, seemed to be absorbing itself into my hand, bright blue lines showing through the jacket. I struggled to keep standing, clutching at my right hand. I let out a scream as blue chains burst from it, surrounding me in a white light once more.
"If you wish to protect those who are precious to you, than pray for it with your heart and soul." The words were mixed with my cries as whatever weird transformation that was going on ended. I yanked my arm down, out of a chained blue circle in the air, panting for breath. As I watched, a pattern of crosses etched themselves onto each of my fingers, a larger one going on the back of my hand. The center cross glowed a bright blue, around that center light were mini crosses like the ones on my fingers, and a wave of the color and heat zipped through the air, hitting the Undead, causing them to falter.
"What's going on?!" I asked. I looked up, and all of the Undeads turned to look at me, and only me. "Protect those who are precious to me? What's that mean?" Something told me to step towards Syrenne, and as I made contact with her, a blue light surrounded her and, much to my astonishment, she rose, looking as though she had never fallen. I didn't have time to be surprised as Dagran and Yurick entered the room.
"Zael! What's that light?" Dagran asked, looking at it with a face of surprise and confusion. I couldn't answer that question; I didn't know what it was myself.
"I everyone OK?" I asked instead. I slashed at an Undead, knocking it over.
"Yeah, just about. Ow!" Syrenne said as she pulled off a sort of combo with her dual blades.
"Zael, this is weird. Really weird," Yurick said.
"I'm just as confused as you are. I heard this voice in my head, and…" I cut myself off, not wanting to finish my sentence. Instead, I cut the head off of another Undead, which wasn't as gruesome as you'd think it'd be on a first guess.
"What the hell is going on?" Dagran asked suddenly, as only the archer was left standing. It seemed oblivious to the fact that the others existed, its gaze fully fixated on me. I dived as an arrow was shot towards where my head had been, before front flipping to avoid a second one. Yurick managed to shoot a fireball at the archer. "These things don't stay down! Zael! Draw the enemy into the fire circle!" I saw Yurick about to make a comment about the term 'fire circle' but changed it at the last minute.
"Some people say the undead are given new life in the underworld," Yurick said instead.
"I've heard that somewhere before," I admitted.
"They do say fairytales and legends have a grain of truth in them."
"All I know is I'll smash them down now matter how many times they get up!" Dagran exclaimed. The blue light on my hand suddenly dispersed itself as the last one went down, and stayed that way.
"What just happened?" I said surprised. Behind me, I heard a door open.
"What?! There was a way out! Zael, you useless idiot!" Syrenne scolded me. We began to trek towards the new opening, when I suddenly asked myself if that strange ability was only a one-time thing. I looked down at the hand with the strange markings. I caught up to the others just as they walked through the doorway. Once again, the walls were made of stone.
"Ugh, what a pain in the arse. Is this really the right way?" Syrenne complained again.
"The air's damp and the atmosphere stinks," Yurick said.
"So Arganan knew about this place when he…" Dagran began.
"When he what Dagran?" I asked. The tunnel had led out to a bridge, and at the end we were standing at, was one of those grayed out markings I had seen earlier. Although instead of being grayed out, they were a bright blue with a beam of light the same color coming from it and fading into the air. I walked over and, as I stood in the light, I felt rejuvenated.
"Forget it. Pointless rambling," he said decidedly, and it was impossible to encourage him to talk about something he had already made his mind up on. The nearby area looked clear of enemies, as did the bridge itself, so we set out upon it. We didn't want to get stuck fighting on such a small space.
"Wow, take a look at that!" Syrenne said in fascination, looking at the petal lookalikes floating in the air.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's like falling flower petals."
"Yeah…" I heard more cracking, and was snapped out of the trance the petals had put me in.
"Zael! In front! Enemies!" Dagran barked out, drawing my attention away from the flowers. He took out his sword as Syrenne and I followed suit. Yurick rarely did the same.
"More bony freaks?" Syrenne commented.
"Look! Over there, too!" Yurick said, pointing to the archers on the broken bridges nearby.
"They've surrounded us! Are they intelligent?!" Dagran said, worried. He quickly regained his composure. "Don't try to defeat them! Just knock them into the valley!" With those orders, the battle had started. Dagran, Syrenne, and I retreated, trying to lure the Undead on the bridge onto it so we could knock them over the edge.
"I can't concentrate on casting like this! I need you to distract them!" Yurick called out, dodging an arrow.
"Zael, can't you use that weird power again?" Syrenne shouted. I didn't really know. If you wish to protect those who are precious to you, than pray for it with your heart and soul.The words repeated themselves in my mind. I faltered for a second as I heard it. Pray for it with my heart and soul? What did it mean? I thought back to how I had felt when Syrenne had almost died, and the blue light returned. In one of my moments of suicide and stupidity, I race forward. That got their attention. I slashed at one, unbalancing it, but had to jump backwards to avoid an arrow, giving to Undead a chance to recover.
"Yurick! Destroy that with your magic!" I shouted, hoping that Yurick knew what I was referring to." OK! Cover me!" he called back. I slashed at the same one again, as Dagran and Syrenne also ran into the fight. The one I had been attacking collapsed and I moved around it, preparing myself for when it popped back up. Behind me, a bridge exploded. The Undead popped back up and I was so focused on knocking it over, that I completely forgot about the other one. Until it sliced my shoulder with its sword, that is. I let out a cry and stumbled forward. It was pure luck that caused me to bump into the Undead and knock it over and not just fall off the edge. All that left was the archer. I knelt down to fire a shot, when the platform it was on exploded.
"Zael! Enemy reinforcements!" Yurick shouted. I was surprised at why he was shouting at me, before he continued. "They're sniping us!" That's when I got it. Sniping was a term used in archery and being the only archer in the group, the situation was something that I needed to know.
"Aren't we done with this lot, yet?" Syrenne said, annoyed.
"Zael," Yurick began, but an explosion drowned out his next words, and all that I heard was "If you need my help, let me know." I nodded, and took a second to assess the situation. Two enemy mages, one on either side.
"Yurick you take the one on the right!" I called. Since I already had my crossbow out, I quickly reached for an arrow. I pulled out another Wizard Slayer. I aimed slower than normal, with both hands for once. I released the string. The arrow rooted itself in the mage's shoulder. I fell out of the air, and I knew that it wouldn't fall immediately. All I could do was hope the poison would take effect before it had the chance to cast anything. A sudden, unexpected laugh came from Syrenne.
"You're going down, you bony freak!" She shouted. I looked, and one of the fallen Undead rose for what I could tell was its last time.
"Take care not to fall off yourself!" Dagran told her. "Let's deal with the remaining one!" I nodded and executed the same move I had on the Reptid earlier. It fell and once again the strange blue light dispersed itself. I was heading towards the door, when a red circle caught my eye.
"Hey, what's this?" I asked. Dagran walked over.
"It's a summon circle. I've seen some enemies use it to summon their allies," he explained. As Yurick joined us on this side of the bridge the door that had been preventing us from proceeding opened.
"It opened!" I said, surprised.
"Yurick, do you sense anything?" Dagran asked. I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but mages have this weird ability that allows them to sense nearby presences.
"Yeah, unlike anything we've seen so far," Yurick told us. We had all seen a lot of things, so something that we hadn't seen before meant that it was really dangerous.
"This gets better by the minute," Syrenne muttered sarcastically. We proceeded into the next room, and as soon as we were all inside and up the small flight of stair the next door opened. With a little help from a kick, of course. We ran inside and heard a heavy thump that shook the floor beneath us.
"What?" I asked. Another thump came. Then another and another. I approached the center of the room with caution. I looked to my right, where the thumps were coming from, to see a huge… thing creating it with its steps. The word Cocoon appeared in my mind, and I thought it fitting for what the thing was. It was at least thrice my height, covered in orange lines. Its hands were gigantic and it had no feet. Its face was flat and covered in orange dots, which I guessed were its eyes. Many swords stuck out of its back, it had a tail that looked as if it had been attached like a waist cape was put on, and it was a sight that made me pause in my steps. I watched as it examined me and Yurick, the only one who had followed me. It seemed to focus on Yurick, who took a step back, fear on his face.
"No way! We can't win against that thing!" he cried out. It brought its arm back, grabbed a sword and I had a horrid realization what it was going to do.
"Yurick!" I shouted. I raced towards him, just as the thing threw the sword at him. Yurick put his arms in front of him as I leaped. For a second I wondered if I would be to slow, but I hit and we tumbled, the blast coming from where he had stood just milliseconds before launching me onto my back.
"Zael!" Syrenne shouted, racing forward alongside Dagran. I got up and raced forward as well, ignoring the pain in my shoulder as it cried out in protest.
"Watch out! Don't let him hit you with one of those swords!" I warned them, running around behind it. I started to slash away at Cocoon, trying to gain its attention.
"Find its weak spot! We're done for if we don't!" Dagran ordered. Cocoon slammed its fist into the ground, creating a shock wave that knock Dagran and Syrenne over, and would have hit Yurick if he hadn't already been in the air. Instead, it ruined his concentration, causing him to stop floating. Cocoon turned to face me. Weak spot, weak spot… I looked at its head.
"Attack its head!" I shouted out, dodging an exploding sword. I did not want to find out what would happen if it hit me.
"It's worth a shot. Yurick, aim for its head!" Dagran said.
"Got it!" Yurick replied. Currently Cocoon's attention was on me, but I couldn't be sure if it would stay that way. I needed it to keep its attention on me only… I looked down at the blue light, surprised. I didn't understand how I could summon it, why it came and went. It was confusing, but I didn't have time to study it now as I dodged yet another sword thrown my way. It seemed to be what Cocoon did to fight enemies that were far away. Yurick casted quicker than usual I noted, and it was right after I rolled forward to dodge the sword did Cocoon clutch its head out of agony. Now was our chance, and I didn't waste a beat, racing towards where Dagran and Syrenne were to help them. Its skin- or was it armor? - was thick and resilient. I kept slashing at it until it knocked me away with its hand, where I stopped by hitting a nearby pillar. Again my shoulder screamed, and I gave a grunt of pain as I stood back up. "What the?! There's more!" More Cocoons?
"They're dropping in from above. We've got to hold on!" Dagran shouted. I saw what they were talking about. Two Undead dropped downwards behind Cocoon.
"There's still too many of them! This is taking too long!" I said, racing to the other side of the room where the Undead had fallen. We were barely holding our ground with Cocoon; we couldn't handle Undead as well! I slashed at one and it dodged, causing me to hit the pillar behind it instead. It collapsed on top of the Undead beneath it. I managed to land a hit on the second Undead, and it followed its comrade. Obviously these ones had been summoned rather hastily, since they weren't nearly as tough as their brothers. I turned around as Yurick launched another fireball at Cocoon.
"It's working! Let's move it to the bridge!" Dagran said.
"Ah, I see. Very clever!" Syrenne commented.
"I'll support you," Yurick added. Another pillar collapsed as Cocoon swung its fists, managing to give me a head start in my race.
"Lead it to the bridge!" Dagran ordered. I turned around and ran back towards where we had entered. It went against everything I was used to doing, abandoning my allies, but I did it anyway. Behind me, I could the thumping as it approached, following me, and I ran faster towards the exit. I knew I had to stay slow enough, so that it would keep focusing on me. "Zael will draw it to the bridge. Yurick, you aim for its legs!" I heard Dagran order from behind me. I turned around after I got halfway across the bridge, and realized that I had been going too fast and it was losing me. I ran back towards where I had found to red circle and stood there until it was practically on top of me. Bad move. I was playing a deadly game of tag, and one wrong move could kill me instantly. It sped up, and I found myself backing away slowly to avoid being sent over the edge by the tremors. I realized with a start that the bridge couldn't support Cocoons weight, and was weakening with every step. It swung a fist towards me, I jumped backwards. Crack. Behind Cocoon, I could see Dagran, Syrenne, and Yurick, the latter floating.
"Had about enough of you! You're going down!" Yurick shouted, and the size of the fireball above him when he raised his hands to cast it was larger than any I had seen him use. He launched it, and that was the last straw. I leaped backwards onto the section mounted to the rocks just before the center of the bridge fell, taking Cocoon down with it. I sat at the edge, wondering how I was supposed to get across, when the trio ran back inside the building on their side. I looked down, the distance between here and the ravine below was so great that even the monstrous figure of Cocoon was not visible. I wondered where Syrenne, Dagran, and Yurick had gone. Were they looking for another exit? Was there even another exit, or were they trapped there? I sat there for a few minutes, just looking at the sights and repeating the same questions over and over in my mind until I heard the sound of a stone being moved and quickly stood up, unsheathing my blade and getting into a defensive position.
"Hey, relax, Zael, it's just us," Syrenne said, coming into view. Needless to say I was surprised.
"But- how? What? Huh?" I asked, knowing my words made as much sense as Syrenne's did when she had had one too many drinks. She gave a laugh.
"Look down and to the left," She said, and I obliged. I saw a whole bridge, not just a broken one like the one we were currently standing on, through the semi-transparent white mist.
"Sorry to give you a scare," Dagran said, coming out from the hole.
"Yeah, sure whatever," Yurick muttered, following Dagran's lead. None of us talked much as we retraced our steps, besides one of us pointing out a treasure chest here, or a request for a boost when we reached the room we had rejoined in. The searing pain in my shoulder had long subsided into a dull throbbing by the time we came back to where we had entered. Syrenne had given me one of her many armbands that adorned both her and Dagran's arm to slow the bleeding until we got back and Mirania could take a look at it.
Leaving the cave, the battered mercenaries looked up at the sky and the sun shone down in greeting. They set forth on the road to the city.
Hiya folks! If you're new then nice to meet ya, I'll be doing these author notes at the bottom of every chapter. If your old, then I know you're surprised with the line, but since the narration at the end of the chapters are going to be done in bold (so they won't get confused with things like flashbacks or thoughts) and since I do author notes in bold... yeah. Can someone please tell me if novelizing this game is a good idea or a complete failure? If it's a complete failure, then I'll just leave the story with this. If it isn't, then I'll try to get the next chapter out fast. Sayonara!