“Weeks ago I entered into an accord with the madman, Cog.” Korrigan’s magical face said. “What was supposed to be a simple transaction ended with Cog betraying me and spitting in the face of a God.”
Shaggy felt Xang still in the back of his mind. The Blood God was like a passenger, merely watching, as Shaggy listened to the Mad Witch pontificate on the many failings of Cog. He glanced over at Levy and realized she had a small in-game camera drone recording over her shoulder. Which made sense. They were going to send this off to the forums and prepare for a Raid of epic proportions.
“... vile, loathsome, idiot who was stupid enough to sit on a God’s throne.” Korrigan continued. Her purple visage looking livid. She seemed to catch herself, as she said.
“Ahem, with all that said, we shall invade the betrayer’s realm in a matter of days. He has been found skulking at the edges of the mortal realm in his own pocket dimension. Investigations are underway to find out who was stupid enough to create a realm for the sexist pig! But that is not important. What is, is readying ourselves for war, my subjects.”
Korrigan’s purple image went from being just her head to revealing her full body. Mini-versions of the Mad Witch appeared in the air before Levy, Shaggy, and Dave. Looking down at the arena, Shaggy saw that the images were replicated for Lady and the two demon generals. The image struck her staff onto an unseen ground and crowed.
“Prepare your spells, gather your familiars, and polish your armor! To our allies in the mortal world, prepare yourselves! I shall be connecting a portal to the betrayer’s realm at this location…”
Korrigan’s image disappeared, and several images flashed through the air. There were quick glimpses of street signs, coordinates, and a scary house. Then it switched back to Korrigan's face. The Mad Witch grinned.
“The war is here, my subjects! Prepare and be ready to stand with your queen. To those in the mortal realm, DO NOT BE LATE!”
With those last words, Korrigan’s image vanished, and the sound returned to the pocket dimension. Shaggy glanced around to see Dave smiling like a kid at Christmas while his wife was rapidly swiping a hand through the air. She was probably racing to get her video edited and ready for the forums. Shaggy sighed and sat back in his chair. That was it. Soon they would rush toward their first in-game Raid. Suddenly, his small Legion seemed nowhere near ready.
At they had less than ten actual players in Under-Town. Most of which Shaggy hadn’t even met. Ren, Vlad, Slink, and Dave were absolutely down for what was coming. But Levy and her in-game friends had been quiet. Although judging by how happy Levy looked. Shaggy was willing to bet they could count on her help. It was the unknown mages he wanted to get a handle on. He hadn’t met any of them nor seen them around the bar.
“This is going to be so epic!” Dave shouted excitedly, pulling Shaggy from his thoughts.
“Yeah. Except that our little Legion can’t exactly field a lot of people,” Shaggy grumbled.
Dave shrugged. “Who cares, dude? We’ll get more players to help, right?”
“Yeah, but those players will look after themselves. Korrigan called this a war. We will need people to look out for us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we can count on the Mad Witch’s people to watch our backs.”
The air suddenly filled with a chill and Shaggy widened his eyes as frost suddenly appeared on his arms. He could see his breath on the air as he spun to find the source of whatever was dropping the temperature. It didn’t take long to spot Lady floating up over the edge of the arena and toward the seats. Shaggy noted that he was the only recipient of her chill spell, or whatever it was.
Lady landed a short distance away, eyes locked on Shaggy. Her blue robes were ruffling softly as she used her powers. Shaggy brushed off the frost and tried not to shiver as he growled.
“What’s up your ass, sister?”
Lady’s eye twitched as the cold around Shaggy almost doubled. “My Mistress does not enjoy being called Mad.”
Shaggy nodded as he couldn’t stop a shiver going from his leg all the way to the bottom of his neck. He was almost sure he was going to be frozen to his seat if he didn’t move. He was going to ease himself up when Dave cut in.
“Hey, Lady! Did you settle things with those two demon dudes? Like, what was up with this tournament? Was it gauntlet style? Am I disqualified because Shags interfered?”
Lady continued to glare at Shaggy for a few more seconds before she turned her gaze to Dave. The chill around Shaggy went away, and he slowly lifted each leg. His pants were a little damp from the melting frost, but he ignored it as Lady addressed his friend.
“No, Dave. You were never entered in the tournament because you didn’t register. You were supposed to sign-in and then they’d place you in a bracket and then you would get a chance to fight. But it seems some of the more… foolish members of my staff played a joke on you. They will be reprimanded.”
“Ohhhh! That’s cool then. I was just wasting time waiting for my friends. They got whisked away by that Korrigan lady. So no need to be too harsh to your staff.”
Lady sneered. “No. There is a need. They made a mockery of my arena and even lost me a boatload of money.”
Shaggy chuckled. “Not many people betting on my boy, Dave, huh?”
Lady glared at him for a few seconds before returning her eyes to Dave. “No. Apparently, he was expected to lose after the first few matches against mages. Magical Supremacy is big around here. So no one thought a non-magical mutant could compete. Losing their credits will disabuse them of that notion.”
“Damn!” Dave said. “I should have made a bet on myself. I didn’t even think about it, though. Hehe.”
“You have my token, Dave. You do not need any other winnings!”
“Oh, yeah! So what do you want me to do for it? You said you would want something in exchange, right?”
Lady smiled and Shaggy was sure he spotted a redness to the woman’s cheeks. “Yes, a token from one of the First daughters of Korrigan is a highly prized possession. An equally great service must be rendered for you to take ownership of it.”
Shaggy rolled his eyes and chuffed loudly. The chill came back around his feet, and he slowly stood. Hopefully, being a moving target would make it harder for the damn ice witch to pin him down. The coldness went away and Dave motioned for Lady to finish speaking.
“So! I have decided that you shall be my personal guard during the war. You shall stay by my side and protect me while we crush Korrigan’s enemies.”
Shaggy started. “Whoa! Wait a minute. Dave is one of the leaders of our Legion. We need him with us for the raid. You can’t just take him.”
The ice cold chill was suddenly back and Shaggy tried to move again. But his feet were rapidly stuck to the floor. Frost built up on his clothes, followed by snow, and then solid ice. His legs were rapidly being frozen as Lady’s eyes glowed blue. Before Shaggy could do anything, he was frozen in a block of ice from the waist down. Shaggy growled as he tried to move.
“Whoa! That is awesome. Werewolf on ice.” Dave chuckled.
“Dave not now. She just attacked me. I’d appreciate a little backup from my friend.”
“Like, I get what you’re saying Shags. But her request isn’t that bad. Besides, who said we can’t all be Lady’s guards? Or at least close to her, right? You and the others can muster up next to us and I can stick with the pretty blue Lady.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Dave grinned at Shaggy. Which meant he completely missed the blushing Lady’s face. Shaggy rolled his eyes and tried to claw at his icy prison, but his sharp claws merely scratched the surface. The ice seemed to tighten as Shaggy attacked and he glanced up to see Lady wringing her hands coyly, not even paying attention to him.
“As my guard, you have to stick as close to me as possible. Your friends can do what they want. I- I- have no control over them. Do you accept!”
Dave kept his grin plastered on his face as he stood up. He immediately fell back into his seat. Still a little exhausted from his fights. So instead he raised a thumb.
“Of course, Lady. See you on the field!”
Lady blushed deeper and Shaggy thought his legs were about to be cut off. The ice was somehow crushing inward as Lady nodded rapidly.
“Yes! Good. Well. I will look for you on the field of battle. Good day!”
With those last words, Lady floated into the air and started moving away. Then she floated the other way when she realized she was going the wrong way. Annoyingly, her giant block of ice around Shaggy’s legs stayed. He hissed as he rapidly clawed at the ice, getting deeper and deeper into the block. Dave was no help at all as he watched the short witch drift away. Shaggy was sure the woman glanced back three times as she drifted away.
“Dude! Stopped making goo-goo eyes at the shortstack of pixels and help me!” Shaggy roared as he continued to claw at the ice block.
Dave sighed and stood up. “Dude, ya gotta learn to respect the ladies. I mean come on! One little ‘sorry for bad-mouthing your queen mama,’ and you would have been fine. But noooo! You had to keep poking the magical bear.”
“It’s the smart ass in him.” Levy said, still swiping her hands through the air. “He can’t help himself.”
“Dave, she was going to take you from the Legion! We are going to need as many people as we can get. There are going to be a bunch of players at this raid.”
“Which is why it’s a good thing that Dave just got us close to what will probably be one of the generals of Korrigan’s forces.” Levy said, clapping her hands and standing.
Shaggy glanced between the two as they looked at him. His legs were still frozen in a block of ice. He had dug some pretty big divots, but he was far from free. Dave smiled at Levy and Shaggy before shrugging his shoulder.
“I don’t know about all that. But Ice lady seemed like a good person to know, you know?”
“You did not plan all of this. I will not believe that!” Shaggy yelled as he clawed at the ice.
Dave scoffed. “What? No way, dude. I just know how to ride the wave that comes. We now have a pretty righteous friend and a choice spot in the coming raid. Which means more epic battles and more super hero fun!”
Shaggy growled in his throat as he gave the ice block another slash. Glaring down at the cut, Shaggy looked up at his wife and Dave.
“Anytime y’all wanna take a whack at this, let me know. We still have to get back and tell the others. Not to mention figure out where the hell those images were.”
Dave moved to kick the giant ice block, but Levy got in his way. She grinned at Dave before her hand was engulfed in purple fire. Shaggy groaned as he understood the plan.
“The forums are working on the location already. The video was short and easy to edit so, it’s up and ready to go. We just have to let the others know and then prepare.”
Levy flung a small fireball at the ice and a loud popping his filled Shaggy’s ears. Thankfully, there was no pain, but the ice didn’t melt much either. Levy threw another fireball as Shaggy asked.
“Do you think they’ll find it? I mean, that house could’ve been anywhere.”
“Well, it’s bound to be a spot in or around Austin. I mean, this is the first big raid that I’ve heard of. So people are excited and ready to put in the work. I bet we’ll have the answer before we get back to Vlad and the others.”
“What about your mage friends? I haven’t really seen much of them around the bar.”
Levy chuckled as she threw another fireball. The steam was getting to Shaggy. “My witches are fine. They were helping me get things set up at our little love nest. I’ve been waiting to introduce you. But you keep rushing off.”
“Yeah. Dude has major ants in the pants.” Dave chuckled.
Shaggy shook his head as he heard the ice crack. He put up a hand to stop Levy’s onslaught of fireballs. His skin was blistering from being so close to the heat. Waving the steam away, Shaggy could see the ice finally weakening in several spots. He jammed his claws into the ice and pulled in both directions. Soon enough, he was free and shaking out his wet pants.
“Can we leave now? I think I hate this place.”
Dave and Levy both laughed as Shaggy tried to rub life back into his legs. It was official. Magic sucked. He’d never tell Levy that, of course. Instead, he merely smiled back at them and started up the stairs. Levy and Dave followed, still chuckling at Shaggy’s wet state. He was so annoyed at the two that he almost forgot about his winnings.
“Wait, she never mentioned my money!” Shaggy griped.
“Well, she said that a bunch of stupid people were betting on Dave to fail. So you probably made a pretty sizeable sum. Let’s stop by the betting cages on our way out.” Levy said.
Shaggy nodded and hurried up the stairs and into the arena walkway. People were surprisingly still milling about here and there. Some looked excited, while others looked terrified. Shaggy thought it was about the upcoming war. But two mages slumped against the wall clued him in.
“Man, what are we going to do about classes? I have that paper on Enchantments. Do you think they’ll suspend everything for the war?”
“Hell no! I can guarantee that the head mistress will want all students to continue our coursework even during the war.”
Shaggy glanced questioningly at Levy and she nodded her head. Apparently, magic school was rough in the Mad Witch’s realm. Nearby, a few demons were excitedly talking about the blood of their enemies. Shaggy marveled at the two distinct groups of Korrigan’s realms. On the one hand, you had a bunch of bored magic nerds and on the other, a bunch of warlike demon variants. He was sure it made for some entertaining times. But he just wanted to go home. He hadn’t punched anything in a while. Except for the demon general, but the bastard didn’t even have the sense to stay dead.
It was a short walk around toward the betting cages, and Shaggy groaned. There was a large crowd surrounding the cages, all yelling while holding up their betting slips. Shaggy reached into his own and gripped the wet slip of paper. He growled low in his throat as he thought about the bastards trying to screw him. Levy placed a hand on his shoulder calmingly.
“Chill, dear. We don’t even know if they are going to try anything. Let’s just get to the front and find out.”
Shaggy sighed and nodded. She was right. The trick was finding a line, though. No one was trying to maintain any sort of decorum. Instead, mages and demons were arguing over each other as several eye demons flitted about nervously. Shaggy groaned as he pushed his way through. But several large demons kept getting in his way. Shaggy grew his claws and had to stop himself from clawing through everyone. Levy must of sense his aggravation as she quickly raised a hand and a purple flash of light silence everyone.
“Whoa! That was neat.” Dave said in the silence.
Levy ignored him as she pointed at Shaggy. “We got a winning ticket here! Let us get our money and we’ll be on our way!”
“Hey! That’s the guy that fucked with our tournament!” someone shouted.
“I’ll fucking kill him.”
“Let me at him!”
“I lost so much money!”
“Filthy Normie!”
Shaggy took a breath and counted down from three. He was on one and a half when a screech rent the air. A guttural, gnashing voice broke over the crowd as they pushed in at Shaggy and the others.
“The mistress has decreed that all bets will be honored! This was an unsanctioned gauntlet started by a few rogue demons. The perpetrators have been caught and are being dealt with. But if anyone else has a problem, Mistress Bragan has said to take it up with her.”
The surly looking crowd backed away and Shaggy marched up to the counter. But at the last second, a large purple and black chest pushed itself into his face. Shaggy glanced upward and spotted an angry-looking demon.
“Take your winnings, little man. You won’t have time to enjoy them.” The demon grinned.
Shaggy sighed and shifted his hands. His two claws jabbed forward into the big demon’s stomach and chest, and Shaggy dragged the big guy downward while jumping. He slammed the top of his head into the demon’s face. A cry of alarm went up from the crowd and Shaggy thought he heard someone say his name. He ignored it as the demon went limp on his claws. Bringing the demon closer, Shaggy head-butted the demon again. Then again. After a third headbutt, Shaggy kicked the demon away and closed his eyes.
“WHEW!” Shaggy breathed out loudly.
“Get it out of your system?” Levy asked.
Shaggy took another large inhale and exhale before responding. “Nope. But I would like to leave now.”
Shaggy slapped his wet betting ticket on the counter and glared at the eye demon. The thing blinked at him slowly before one of its wings dipped below the counter. It came back up with a few cred sticks and Shaggy grabbed them out of the damn things wing-like appendage. Turning on his heel, Shaggy glanced down at the demon to see its face slowly healing back to normal.
“Damn, things are tough.” Shaggy muttered.
Dave chuckled. “Yeah. It was probably like fighting you.”
Shaggy nodded as he pushed his way out of the crowd. Levy and Dave close behind him. Demons and mages gave him ugly looks, but let him pass. Shaggy was counting the seconds until he could get out of Korrigan’s realm. Magic really sucked, and he was done with it.