Hey people, we're back and not dead! I'm sorry for not updating in a while, but writer's block struck hard. Anyway, with school starting soon I can only promise updating once a week, and that may not happen depending on how the teachers are. Amiacon and P12ussia will be writing with me as much as possible. So thank you for being patient, So here in chapter 4.
Disclaimer: We do not and never will own DFO.
The party moved with caution up several flights of stairs, Eromreven annoyed at the slow pace, until they reached the section of the tower called Dragonoid Nest. They all entered roughly at the same time. The room was vast for inside the tower, and it was crowded with Serimalions. One look and the group knew that this room would give them no trouble at all. After twisting corridors and many more dead dragonoids, the party made it to the final room. Lakius was waiting for them.
"Hah, he doesn't look so scary," Komie scoffed. "If he's anything like his little friends, this'll be done in a minute."
"Let's do this!" Arren shouted, hurling a fireball into the dragonoids in front of them. Nel and Komlin rushed separate directions into the fray, slicing at the unfortunate reptiles and backed up by the mage brothers. Soon only one enemy remained.
Eromreven smiled knowingly. This would not be quite as easy as they thought. Lakius had a small surprise waiting for them. The twins ran towards Lakius firing off spell after spell, but Arren did not see the shadow of the cage falling down at him.
"Arren you idiot!" Evecil yelled while hammering at the cage, trying to free his brother before Lakius got to him. Arren smashed at it from the inside and was soon free, and they turned their attention back to Lakius, but were shocked to find not one, but two Laikus's charging at them. Eronel slashed at one; it tried to strike back, but soon vanished. Komlin attacked the other, slamming it to the ground. He was coming down on it with a Mountainous Wheel when it leapt back to its feet, throwing an orb of lightning around itself. The Slayer was thrown back, groaning. Evecil ran to Lakius and used his ice sword, wounding him, but not managing to kill him.
"Die already!" Nel shouted, slipping behind him and stabbing him in the back. The dragonoid turned on her, ripping the blade through his flesh with the movement. Growling, Lakius lunged. Eronel easily dodged their tired opponent's attack and caught his foot in one of hers, sending him sprawling. Arren followed this up with a Flame Shield, and Lakius was toast. After having their equipment fixed, the group moved onto the next level called Puppet Museum. Most of the adventurers that had gone in never came back out. Arren being the scaredy cat he is immediately cowered behind Evecil.
"Why are you so scared, Arren?" Evecil questioned
"Because, what if we don't come out?" Arren countered, his voice cracking.
"We will," Komlin assured him.
"Yeah, and if things go sour," Nel gestured at Eromreven, "we have backup. Don't worry about it!"
"Thanks," Arren said, but deep down he was still scared.
They mounted the last staircase and emerged on a plateau filled with statues. Of other adventurers. "Whoah, creepy," Komlin said.
"No kidding," agreed Evecil.
"This one looks... angry," Arren observed, leaning in close to a Fighter.
A grinding noise echoed around the eerie space and the nearest statues began to shake. Arren cried out in surprise and terror as a fist shot past his face. "Wha- wha- They're alive!?" he shouted. He ran back and cowered behind the others, clinging tightly to Evecil's back.
"It seems that they are alive, or they're being controlled," Evecil observed while firing off some Water Cannons, so Arren wouldn't mess with his movement.
"Eee hee hee, you have a clever one!" cackled a grainy voice. A small stone-colored creature with large eyes who rode a floating boulder emerged from behind a couple of statues. "You would make some lovely additions to my collection!"
Komlin's lip curled back in revulsion at the weird little Dogrie. "Ick. We'll pass."
The Dogrie laughed again. "The choice is not yours!" The floor under them warped, and a stone spike shot up right in their midst.
"Holy crap!" Evecil exclaimed while trying to dodge the rock. He managed to dodge most of it, but a few small shards became embedded in his shoulder.
"Agh!" Evecil yelped in pain and slouched to the ground.
"Little jerk!" Arren yelled, shooting a Wind Strike at the monster. A statue intercepted the attack and shattered as the Dogrie cackled.
Eronel and Komlin kicked into gear, smashing the nearest foes to rubble. Arren covered Evecil's share of fighting, giving him time to magically excise the stone shards from his flesh.
"Damn, it always hurts to do this," Evecil muttered.
"You could be doing it with claws," Eromreven interjected helpfully.
"Point taken," Evecil grunted as the spell took the last shards of rock out of his shoulder. He continued firing spells into the statues, assisting their melee fighters.
"Come out and fight, coward!" Evecil shouted hoarsely. His eyes travelled about the room in search of Dogrie.
"Over here!" it giggled, rising behind them from beneath the plateau. Eromreven rolled his eyes at the bizarre monster right behind him and slashed with his giant sword. The Dogrie fell, headless, into the abyss that was the Sky Tower's inside.
"Those things are annoying," the Berserker growled.
"For once I agree," Evecil added.
"Shocking." Eromreven shouldered his blade and started for the next staircase. "Come on, there are more. They need to die." His carnal grin at the thought of murdering the strange creatures was a little scary. As they neared the end of the maze of platforms the number of statues and Dogries increased.
"Die, you scum!" Evecil yelled as he fired off a Flame Shield.
"Won't!" hollered a Dogrie from behind yet another statue.
"We'll see about that," Evecil replied with a sneer on his face and broke the statue with a Water Cannon. Before the Dogrie had time to call another statue, Evecil ran up to the Dogrie and stabbed it in the gut with the point of his staff, making it bleed out.
"The master..." it choked out, coughing on its blood.
"Master?" Evecil questioned.
"Dogries helped build Sky Tower," Eromreven explained. "Then they went nuts without a leader. Master Dogrie's fillin' the spot."
"Makes sense," Arren said, nodding, but something didn't feel right to him. Arren felt a burning anger form, and he did not know why. Little did Arren know that Master Dogrie had killed him by causing a landslide. Arren did not have clear memories of his death unlike his brother, so he brushed off the feeling. He still felt on edge even as the group reached the final platform.
The platform looked similar to the rest of the area, filled with statues and Dogries. The one that stood out was Master Dogrie. Arren immediately spotted Master Dogrie and bolted for him.
"Arren, get back here!" Evecil shouted trying to stop him.
"No! Something happened between me and him, and I must know what," Arren answered.
"Very well," Evecil said with a slight nod, "At the very least let me cover you,"
"Do as you wish, brother," Arren responded. Evecil looked back at the rest of the group to see if he was needed, but Eromreven had joined in the fray, and was causing the statues bleed left and right. What the hell? How do statues bleed? Evecil wondered. Turning back to Arren the twins took off towards Master Dogrie without another word.
They managed to get about half way before the statues became real nuisances. Arren growled and fired off a Flame Shield knocking the statues back and Evecil blasted them to bits with magic blasts.
"You will not escape," a raspy voice hissed. The twins turned around to find Master Dogrie staring at them.
"We will. After we finish you," Arren replied and vaulted into the air and rained bolts of magic down on Master Dogrie.
"Not good enough," Master Dogrie hissed.
"Then try this!" Arren shouted while firing off a Water Cannon, followed by Flame Shield, and finished his attack with a Magic Cannon.
"I will not be defeated that easily," Master Dogrie whispered while struggling to get up. He looked to the left of Arren and spotted Evecil, and a plan formed in his mind. Master Dogrie lunged for Arren, but broke to the left and tackled Evecil wrapping his hands around the mage's neck.
"Damn you," Evecil choked out.
"Get away from him!" Arren snarled as he threw Master Dogrie off of Evecil and beat it over and over again with his staff until Master Dogrie was an inch away from death. "Now tell me," Arren began, "Why do I have the feeling that we have run into each other before?"
"Silly mage," Master Dogrie coughed. "You really don't remember, do you?"
"All I have are feelings and some blurred images, now talk!" Arren demanded.
"I was the one that killed you in a landslide," Master Dogrie croaked.
"You lie!" Arren screamed.
"It is the truth," Master Dogrie responded.
"I will never believe you," Arren said with a spite filled voice and ended Master Dogrie's life with one last blow.
"Come here, brother," Evecil called softly. Arren turned around and ran into Evecil's arms, and broke down crying.
"Feel better?" Evecil asked after a while.
"Yeah," Arren replied.
"Aaaaawwww..." Komlin and Eronel said, making fun of Evecil since he was being nice to his brother again.
"Knock it off, you two!" Evecil grumbled. "We should be getting back to town."
"Why?" Arren questioned.
"Call it a hunch," Evecil replied.
"Then let's get going!" Komlin said and the party climbed back down the tower to return to West Coast.
Well that's the end of this chapter. Sorry if it came up on the short side. Next chapter is... Class Advancements! Review Please!