Chapter Three: Checkpoint
An undead's corpse hung in an abandoned well near their bonfire. Above its shrivelled chest orbited a white sphere. The adventurers rushed past, all but one ignoring it. Emma stopped to pillage the soul, catching up with her companions after gaining one humanity. Ahead, behind a withered tree, was a thin ledge covered in stone steps. It snaked around the rocky mountain, leading to a fairly wide cliff edge. Surveying the land they noticed another ledge leading to another cliff edge up above. However the entire vicinity was guarded heavily by undead soldiers.
They burst in to action simultaneously. John sprinted towards the most heavily armoured opponent, stumbling him with a kick in the chest, which allowed for a swift beheading. Sherlock charged at the closest foe, bludgeoning him over the head repeatedly with his blunt weapon, until the poor thing crumbled to the ground. Both fighters dodged the fire bombs that were being thrown at them from above as they dispatched their enemies. Sofia, Emma and Lon'qu had scaled the second ledge, taking on the guards there. As a pyromancer Sofia was more resistant to fire than the others so approached the cowardly creature throwing the bombs. She faked a stance suggesting she would attack from the right, then sliced the undead's flesh from the left with her axe, finishing with an explosion of fire to teach him a lesson. Lon'qu glided towards an axe wielder, slashing at him so quickly that he died before he could lift his weapon. The wanderer spun round eliminating another who hoped he had the opportunity to back stab.
Emma approached the final undead slowly. He was at the very top of a flight of stairs, leading to a small sewer. She proceeded up the thin, steep steps eyeing the last fighter with a mischievous smile. She brandished her dagger menacingly, watching her footing as she approached him. The undead appeared confused for a moment, then charged at the thief, weapons held high. She pounced on him, pulling him into a role and throwing him off the side. The only issue was that she rolled off with him. Lon'qu's jaw dropped as he watched her fall into the distant river below.
"Emma!" he screamed, whilst pacing about in a panicked fashion. He observed his friends' faces and noticed their unimpressed expressions. "Emma...She's gone! Why do you all look so...so...not phased?!" He gestured backwards and forwards at where she had previously been standing and where she had dropped.
"Because she'll re-spawn soon," shrugged Sofia.
"Wh...what?" stammered Lon'qu.
Suddenly all the defeated foes re-spawned around them.
Meanwhile Emma had a re-appeared at the bonfire. She dusted herself off as she got to her feet, scowling as she realised what had happened.
"Oh, your face! You're practically hollow! Hah hah hah hah," mocked Elric who was perched on a small rock beside her. "Huh, what are you looking at? Don't try anything clever. You might regret it."
Emma laughed cockily, considering all the ways she could kill him. Her eyes wandered over a puddle of water by her feet. She peered into it. A shrunken, pink face stared back. She bit her lip to stop herself from swearing.
"How can I reverse it?" she asked Elric brusquely.
"Hm, what? Restoring your humanity? Well, there are a few ways to go about it…Collect it bit by bit from corpses, or you can butter up a cleric, and get yourself summoned. And the quickest way, although I'd never do it, is to kill a healthy Undead, and pillage its humanity. Coveting thy neighbour is only human, after all! Hah hah hah hah…"
Emma growled, "You're lucky I picked up a humanity from that corpse over there or I would be forced to take it from you..." He sensed her hostility, so strolled off into the ruins. The thief raised her right hand and thought about the humanity she had absorbed. The air above her palm formed a black silhouette of a human which glowed white around the edges. She examined it briefly then crushed it with her hand. The essence engulfed her and she watched as her pink, fleshy body formed her chalk white skin. She smiled proudly at her reflection then run through the puddle to meet up with her comrades.
"You finally decided to join us," greeted Sherlock, surrounded by dead bodies. "What possessed you to jump off that ledge anyway?"
"She didn't do it on purpose!" interjected Lon'qu crossly.
"Thanks, but I can speak for myself," she nodded kindly at Lon'qu. Apparently she thought that her glare at Sherlock would suffice as an explanation.
"It doesn't matter. What's done is done," forgave Sofia. "Shall we get going now?"
They retraced their steps up the ledges and cliff edges, reaching the flight of stairs Emma fell from. Emma recovered her souls; she had about 500. But as soon as they were about to enter the small sewer, she stopped them. "Wait! I just remembered something important!" They watched her, some more irritated than others, as she made her way down to the bottom ledge. She positioned herself where the armoured undead was, waved at her friends and then crash rolled onto a lower platform of the aqueduct holding up the sewer. Lon'qu winced as he witnessed her narrowly miss another drop. The stone was being held up by large thick pillars and so she was forced to shimmy across them in order to remain balanced. Once she had reached the other side, she bent down and pillaged a corpse, pulling out a small item.
She returned cheerfully, placing the tiny object on her finger.
"A ring of sacrifice?" asked Sofia, winking at her friend.
"Yup," she smiled, admiring the shiny metal and the magenta-shaded stone.
"Um..." began John.
"Oh, sorry. The ring of sacrifice is a mystical ring created in a sacrificial rite of Velka, the godess of sin. It's enchanted so that that if the wearer dies, they won't lose any of their souls as a consequence," explained Sofia.
"That should serve some use for you then," stated Sherlock, clearly addressing Emma.
"There's another soul over there! Shiny...shiny!" exclaimed Emma, ignoring Sherlock completely.
"The only problem is that the ring breaks after the person dies..." trailed off Sofia as her companion charged towards the 'shiny'. She sighed, chuckling at Emma's playfulness.
"Soul of a lost undead!" squealed Emma from joy. She crushed the white orb, gaining 200 additional souls.
"Wonderful." Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Get a move on!"
They entered the dark, wet corridor. Their footsteps echoed as they waded through the filthy water. Luckily, burning torches provided enough light for them to see where they were going. Unluckily, a huge rat skulked behind them. Knowing that it hadn't been detected, it pounced on the adventurer at the back of the line, knocking him over. It was John.
At the sound of splashing, squeaking and screaming, Sofia spun round. As her eyes took in the scene, she felt her face redden, her fists clench and her hair stand on end. The others backed away as she roared, becoming fire itself. The pyromancer grabbed the rat's tail in her blazing fist, burning it immediately. The flames travelled up the rodent's body, coating it in bright blue fire. All the was left was a pile of ash and a white orb. Her eyes burnt crimson, yet her vision was blurry. Her anger dulled as John got to his feet, but her fatigue was too great. Her legs failed her. Black.
"Hmm...John?...rat..." she mumbled as she reclaimed her consciousness. "Rat!" she squeaked, opening her green eyes wide.
"Shhh...I'm here, I'm fine," soothed John, crouching down beside her.
She examined the small scratch marks on his cheek. "Your face...Your..."
"Don't worry about it...I'm fine," he smiled reassuringly.
She rubbed her head as if a migraine had previously invaded it. "What happened?"
"I don't know how to describe it..." struggled John.
"It's as if you caught fire..." helped Emma, still perplexed at the notion. "You saw John...then you became...enraged. I watched as the anger took control of you...your hands...flames burst out and then they surrounded you...You didn't burn though...neither did your robes...you simply became...stronger."
Sofia stared at the rotting, mouldy walls of the sewer, amazed by the account. Had her fury really triggered such power? It was then that she realised how cold she was. Looking down she saw that she was sitting. Her robes were immersed in the unclean water.
"Ugh," she breathed, accepting John's helping hand.
"Don't worry about the water. You can dry off at the next bonfire," suggested Lon'qu.
"True. It's not that far now."
They all thought it fair that Sofia pillaged the rat's soul; it contained one humanity. She also found another soul of a lost undead, giving her a total of 750 souls. They quickly exited the sewer through a side exit and a flight of stairs, emerging out into the natural daylight. They found themselves onto a stone courtyard, high above the undead burg village. Barrels littered the floor, both broken and whole. The entire castle complex was huge, yet they had little time to admire it because two undead soldiers were racing towards them.
Emma dodged the first one's attack, hitting it on the head with the butt of her blade. The intense vibrations of his helmet disorientated him, causing him to fall backwards into the other one. They tumbled to the ground just before Sherlock sent their brains flying with his club.
"Hey! They were mine!" Emma scorned.
"Too slow..." sneered Sherlock, wiping the blood of his enemies on his loincloth.
"Ewww..." uttered Emma with disgust, averting her eyes as quickly as humanely possible.
"Look over there!" Sofia was pointing at a small bridge behind them. She gestured towards a floating soul at the end of the structure. "Give me a second..." She ran towards a broken part of the bridge, grabbed onto it and hauled herself up. Within seconds she had returned with another humanity.
"Here you go, John," she smiled up at him shyly, handing him the humanity. "I've already got one, after all."
"Tha-"
"Why didn't you give it to me?!" bellowed the deprived.
"Sherlock!" shout whispered Emma, grabbing him by the ear and dragging him away. Lon'qu 's jaw dropped slightly, but then thought it wise to follow.
"Thanks," finished John gratefully. He fiddled with his fingers as he grinned at her. She beamed back at him, her right foot rubbing the back of her left.
"Umm...heh heh." They gazed into each others eyes, unable to speak.
"FRESH BLOOD!"
This broke the spell. They ran in the direction of the war cry, finding Sherlock, Emma, Lon'qu and dead undead everywhere. Broken fire bombs, limbs, weapons, armour, barrels and crates cluttered their surroundings. They gave each other silent looks of understanding; now wasn't the time for building relationships.
The five transversed a white mist into a small moss-covered building. Behind a collection of small archways was another soul of a lost undead, which Sherlock insisted on collecting; he now had 960 souls. A flight of stairs, then another, led them back out into the fresh air.
A long thin stony bridge lay before them. Sherlock pushed forwards smugly, attempting to lead.
A giant blood red dragon swooped down out of thin air, using the bridge as a stepping stone to propel itself back into the sky. It's mere foot was double the width of the bridge and the impact caused it to shake dangerously, sending shards flying.
"Smaug?" inquired Sherlock under his breath.
"What?..." Sofia glanced slowly at Emma. "That's the Hellkite dragon."
"Oww!" A sharp bolt had pierced Sherlock's undefended flesh. A second flew past John's ear.
"Up there!" Lon'qu motioned at the horizon, where a small figure was wielding a large wooden crossbow.
"John?"
"On it!" He slalomed around three guards, ignoring their pathetic swings, and climbed more steps towards the perpetrator. He ducked under it's bow, slicing its knees as he did so. The archer fell, as expected, but pushed John back with his weapon. The warrior counter attacked, slicing the creature's neck. During this time, the others dealt with the guards. Sofia charged up her fireballs, dealing massive damage. Emma tripped them up, Sherlock struck fear into their hearts and Lon'qu finished them off. Perfect teamwork. They re-grouped and searched the area, collecting a wooden shield from a small balcony.
Sherlock claimed the upgrade. He held the tall shield out, examining the beautiful white dragon decorating the front. He threw his plank shield over the edge as they climbed up the steps where the archer was.
"Look! Checkpoint!" Sofia was correct. To their left, over a wooden board acting as a makeshift bridge, was a huge archway leading to a cosy-looking room. In the very centre was an unlit bonfire.
They breathed sighs of relief as the pyromancer lit the fire.
