Slimer Jaik had no idea that all hell was breaking loose in the city above him. He had heard the alarm bells of course, but took them as yet another drill and could not pry himself away from his passionate work. The master slime wrangler diligently pored over cross-pollination records from the autumn slime cultivation, transferring them line-by-line from his rough scrawled field notes into the tight and delicate scripts of a massive leather bound volume.
“The Peach strain seems to up the efficiency of the Ochre strain, but increases aggressive tendencies.” Jaik spoke to himself as though he had an audience. And in fact he did, a small army of his favorite slimes shared his office with him. The shiny gelatinous critters bounced and rolled about in behaviors that the very experienced recognized as content and playful.
This was his favorite time of year, because it was now that all of his carefully arranged slime pairings yielded their various offspring.
He dipped his quill into one such outcome. The tiny slime on his desk was no larger than a plum, and black as pitch. This was the result of forty generations of breeding only for dark pigments and small size, a totally unique slime who’s entire body was composed of inky blackness that left crisp, beautiful lines and dried almost instantly. He bopped the slime affectionately with his fingertip after dipping his quill, and the tiny slime vibrated its body, sending happy ripples across its surface. A slime was perfectly safe to handle as long as it wasn’t hungry or threatened.
A sudden boom accompanied by a shockwave of force caused Jaik to split the tip of his quill with a sputtered curse.
He quickly (for a man of his age) gathered his loose notes and precious logbook in his arms and stepped hard on the specific floor tile that opened the floor safe in the small adjacent room where his cot and day to day necessities were stored. He had a small home in the city proper but rarely stayed there. He stashed his most prized possessions and pulled forth a small silver whistle crafted by a famous artisan in Crown City to his exact specifications.
He moved quickly and cautiously down the tunnel that connected his office to the main sewage purification pit. There were waste chutes at various places around town which ended here. A hundred meter wide funnel shaped pit created with a combination earth magic and hard labor. Any organic waste that ended up here landed in the midst of over twelve hundred slimes that happily gobbled up the nutrient rich matter and expelled nothing but pure water which eventually drained though the funnel and into the reservoir below.
The whistle made no audible sound when he blew into it with all of his might. The slimes responded to the frequency, however. Like children to the dinner bell they undulated and bounced quickly to his location. They weren’t confined here by any means, the waste pit was a slime’s paradise after all.
“You should have escaped faster, old man.” A voice echoed from the tunnel. He turned and saw the red armor and insignia of a Crusibilis Knight’s division. He also noted the man’s many injuries. “I was ordered to take you in, but I think just getting rid of you will be enough for partial credit.” The intruder’s expression was hidden under his red closed helm but Jaik could hear the evil grin in his voice.
Jaik responded by reaching into the breast pocket of his vest and produced a vial of brownish liquid. ” A drink before I die then.” He said shakily. Then in one motion he brought the whistle to his lips and blew as he tossed the vial at the knight.
The knight reflexively swatted the flask with the flat of his sword, shattering the surprisingly fragile glass. Jaik fell backward then into the pit. He rolled and tumbled comfortably across the soft bodies.
“Gah!” The knight spat as he covered his nose and mouth. “What’s that stench?”
The slimes moved as one, excited by the alluring chemicals that they were suddenly sensing. The knight noticing the swarm was suddenly less confident.
“You think some mere slimes will save you?” He swung at the first one that bounced his way, and it exploded into a thousand droplets.
This seemed to excite the slimes further and their speed increased. He killed perhaps a dozen more before the first slime bounced from behind him and stuck fast to his right hamstring. The knight growled in pain as the burn began. He knew plenty of magic that could have saved him if he hadn’t wasted it all on that blast nova and invisibility potion against those adventurers to escape. One of his allies had been caught in the blast, and the other had been instantly bisected by the burly half ogre’s axe.
It was time to flee again. He turned and began a limping run toward the exit and was met by a clean shaven young man wearing immaculate plate armor.
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“Norris the Worthy.” The knight recognized the famous adventurer. “So the brute that killed Anthia was Rust. That makes sense.” The knight sighed. “Very well, I surrender.”
“I accept your surrender.” Norris answered. “But it seems like they don’t.” As he finished four more slimes launched and stuck to the knight, forcing themselves through armor gaps and causing blood curdling screams that were soon muffled under the weight of the hundreds of slimes engulfing him.
“That’s a nasty way to go.” A deep voice heralded the singed Rust who was a lot less hairy thanks to the point blank Blast Nova.
Norris tried and failed to suppress a snicker at Rust’s appearance. He was fully hairless. His eyebrows and all had been burned completely away.
“Aye. I was crispy and likely I’d be dead if not for that potion and the resists we got from the restaurant. Doesn’t grow hair back though.” Rust rubbed his dirty bare scalp to emphasize the point.
“So the potions really are the real deal.” Norris muttered. “I believed Delia’s Appraisal but still.”
“We all met lady Tabula.” Rust replied. “I’d believe anything at this point.”
“Lady?” Norris echoed. Never in the six years of working with Rust had he ever heard the man use an honorific.
“Ye heard me.” Rust grunted. “Did the guy we were supposed to save not make it?”
“He leaped into the pit just as I was arriving.” Norris shook his head. “At least we avenged him.”
A throat clearing sound from the pit interrupted the dialogue. Slimer Jaik had climbed his way out of the pit with the aid of the slimes. It was an incredible sight to the adventurers who had never imagined the slimes capable of anything but mindless eating.
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Pyromancer Cole finished inscribing the small orange glowing rune on the wall of the tavern across the street from the Adventurer’s Guild. His Soul Energy was nearly depleted but he had completed his task.
“All finished with your little scribbles?” A woman’s voice drew his attention. How had he not sensed her? He turned and found a tall, muscular woman with long lavender hair. Her appearance was quite distinct. He had never met her in person but could easily guess her identity.
“Luna Laguna, the Lightning Hidden in the Clear Sky.” He addressed her by her full name and title with a deep and respectful bow. I’m a big fan of the songs.
Luna was a bit taken aback by the greeting. She was expecting anything but a smitten fan.
“I’m afraid I’ll be restraining you, or worse.” She said after she recovered. “The severity of your beating is really up to you.”
“So that’s how it is.” Cole seemed a bit saddened at the declaration. “Did all of the Mighty Four turn traitor or just you?”
“I have no reason to tell you, but it is the kingdom that turned traitor. They’re grooming demons, massacring innocents, invading every neighbor, and have lost all hope of redemption.” Luna noticed Cole’s subtle movements as she spoke. She pretended not to see his tongue moving behind his frozen half smile.
She identified the forming spell, and slowly drew in a breath. Every cell in her body grew excited as oxygen and Soul Energy mixed and ignited in precise measure, multiplying her physical potential beyond what almost anyone could comprehend.
Cole knew the stories. She was fast, far too fast to hit with anything but the perfect surprise attack. It had to be something too big to evade, and potent enough to bring her down in one hit.
Pyroclasm summoned a wall of lava from the ground which no one could avoid at this range. Cole hated to reveal it, but he genuinely feared this woman’s reputation. She would leap or attempt to dodge but the deadly heat of Pyroclasm was lethal far beyond the visible lava.
The spell activated, and Cole sighed a bit in relief and a bit in sadness. It was a shame to destroy such beauty.
The air vanished in the wake of the destructive force, and if Cole hadn’t been shielded by a dozen magic items he would have been vaporized. Those items were issued by the kingdom, and no adventurer could have anything close to them no matter how famous.
“That’s that.” He announced to no one in particular.
Cole’s face screwed up and no sounds could escape his mouth. He was struck senseless with disbelief as a bubble appeared on the back side of the lava wall, and burst to reveal a totally unscathed Luna. She hadn’t tried to dodge after all. Thanks to a phenomenon known on earth as the leidenfrost effect combined with superhuman speed, Luna was able to create an insulating barrier of air and steam around her body as she plunged through the wall.
“What’s that?” Luna replied.
Sparks of blue electricity began to dance across her skin as the lava dissipated behind her. Her image distorted into a jumble of afterimages as she moved. Her title ‘the Lightning Hidden in the Clear Sky’ was not just an empty string of words. Luna moved so fast and shunted so much energy from her body that enormous charges of static electricity built and discharged with the force of actual lightning bolts.
“Don’t think you’ve won! This is just the beginning.” Cole boasted and snapped his fingers, triggering the many high explosive runes placed around the city.
Nothing Happened. Cole looked at his hand as though it had betrayed him.
“The beginning of what, exactly?” A new voice asked from behind Cole. It was a sleepy, bored girl’s voice.
Cole didn’t need to turn around, it all came clear in that moment.
“Forsaken Archmage Delia, the big fish herself. I’m honored.” Cole used his tongue and began to dislodge the crystal between his molars that would send him back to Crown City.
“Is your tongue faster than lightning?” Luna asked him honestly.
Cole opened his mouth and rolled the crystal on his tongue. He just needed to position it and bite down. It took him only a tenth of a second, but something was wrong. He bit down on nothing but his own teeth, and there was a sudden pain on his lips and tongue. His feet were also no longer on the ground, and Luna was shrinking as he flew backward at horrible speed. She was holding something in her hand. He couldn’t make it out but the evidence was mounting. She had reached into his mouth, plucked the crystal out, and kicked him in the chest.
He wasn’t beaten yet. He focused with all of his might and shouted the activation for a shorter range and more unpredictable teleport spell. He might end up somewhere in the mountains or Gnollwood but at least he would escape. For the second time in his life his magic failed him.
“Haven’t you figured it out?” Delia asked him. “Can’t you feel it yet?”
Cole touched down and slid backwards a few feet from the wall of the tavern. There was an odd feeling. He couldn’t feel the ground, or anything for that matter. He noticed something on the ground before Luna Laguna. His eyes widened in horror, except they didn’t. His real eyes were still firmly inside his skull, which was still attached to his crumbled body at the monk’s feet.
“Astral Expulsion...” Cole whispered as his disembodied spirit struggled to comprehend the reality of the situation. Her strike had separated his spirit body from his physical body. “The kingdom will hunt you down for it.” Cole’s thoughts carried to Delia as he recognized the technique as one of the powers sought by King Gault.
“What kingdom?” Delia’s voice turned wicked as she held forth a black crystal ball.
Cole’s spirit screeched in terror as the artifact began to pull him toward it slowly, inexorably.
“You will make a fine gift for Lord Gray.” Delia snickered. “Perhaps we’ll even rank up.”