Chapter 14

“What happened?”, Amy asked.

“You used so much power that it blew away the entire illusion”, Radim responded while he was wiping hot milk tea off his beard.

Shatira still recovering from shock, asked with a faltering voice, “Isn’t that the same as blowing away the whole damn mountain?”.

“That is precisely what that means”, Liam said as his face was a mix of bewilderment, a touch of awe, and a hint of fear.

“You see!”, Minerva raised her voice, “My big sister is amazing!”.

In Amy’s heart at that moment, the sight of her dwarf friend felt more like her little sister, whom she always defended and looked after.

“I was useful too, writing off the magic barrier with my relic”, Glyn said, trying to prove herself to Liam.

“So did we pass?”, Lorenn queried straightening his glasses.

“Hmmm”, Radim paused for a moment stroking his beard before he replied, “Well technically yes, and technically no. Liam and Ian passed through without a sweat so compared to them only Amy passed. I am feeling generous today after finding a promising new victim…I mean new promising guild member to raise, yes all of you passed”.

Any thoughts of the three dark elves from earth were quickly forgotten, as they celebrated their victory.

“However”, Liam stared intently at Amy now regaining his composure, “Amy that was an illusion. In reality, you may cause irrevocable damage to your body or your wand, if you use such a vast amount of mana at once. Plus removing places off the map, may not be such a good thing especially if you blow up everything and everyone around you. Looks like you’ll need to learn some control”.

“It truly is a frightening power. Almost like the nuclear bombs you humans have”, Sean said ruefully.

Amy could see that Liam was mired in his own thoughts about the incident.

“With Amy in our raid party we cannot lose!”, Osgur exclaimed in an excited voice.

“I would prefer not to have to worry about being erased from existence every time we are in a dangerous situation though”, Satriana mused aloud to herself.

“Right with that, let’s assess and review”, Liam said as he crossed his hands.

No matter how far Jeremy traveled the ground was always red, and the sky was always black. As he moved through the terrain that resembled the pictures of mars surface, there were many craters and gouges in the ground. As if they were scars of some grand and epic battle.

At times he was being hunted, other times he was the one hunting. During his training in hell week, he had to eat out of the leftovers in trash cans. But now this was different, there was nothing to eat in the lifeless environment save for the creatures that attacked him without end. Jeremy was in a real dilemma how could he acquire food when none could be found. However, dire his situation was, he discovered that by killing the creatures he grew stronger, and after he killed many, he would feel his exhaustion dissipate.

Jeremy also was concerned about water. Jeremy watched the ripple in the waters as he poked his finger in it. He looked out at the lake as he squatted down. The sword on his waist clinked as it came in contact with sand and pebbles. Jeremy cupped some water in his hands and stared at it as if it would give him answers. It was water, without a doubt; however, it had a slight red tinge to it. The taste wasn’t refreshing like cold bottled water, it had a slight minerally aftertaste not entirely dissimilar to blood. Jeremy concluded it must be due to the high iron content in the soil

‘Could I find water again’, Jeremy thought to himself. By earth’s logic if there was water in one location there would be a stream. This, this place was not earth. Maybe earthly knowledge does not apply here. There were no rivers or streams leading to this lake, maybe just maybe Jeremy could find a spring or underground river that filled the sunken ground with water. He had carefully combed the shores on the east side, or rather what Jeremy called east. He had searched through the west and south shores as well. His four days spent here may be in vain but once he found water after three days of slowly dying from thirst, he was hesitant to leave. He looked once more towards the body of still lifeless water, and his eyes roamed up the left and down the right to find any conspicuous features. He wished to find the source of the water and some shelter on this side of the lake.

Jeremy backed away from the water. He could sense eyes on him. This was Jeremy’s other dilemma: he was being hunted. Yesterday, or what he thought was yesterday he barely managed to survive against eight at once. He was concerned of his location being discovered, so he pressed on despite his wounds to leave no witnesses. There was one human looking figure amongst them. The rest were close to what he imagined goblins to look like. They moved without structure and organization. Though they uttered not a word between them, though they just seemed to have the goal of their version of entertainment, and to fill their bellies with his flesh; Jeremy could not be sure that they were able to communicate, so he left none alive.

The prior day's struggles seemed like it was all for naught; as he turned around and there were twenty foes waiting for him. ‘How do they keep finding me?’, Jeremy muttered to himself in exasperation, ‘Is my luck that bad, did I commit some unspeakable sin in a past life?’.

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They were still a score of meters away. Instead of a few ragtag goblins though with crude weapons, and cruder attacks. This time there were eight red skinned bipedal beasts, with black unruly hair, and horns growing from their foreheads. Their eyes were pitch black with no whites, filled with hunger and a desire to torment.

Jeremy was used to fighting bearing a gun in his hands, aiming and shooting, using it as his instrument of death. However, over the last week he had become accustomed to wielding his greatsword. The movements of his feet arms and shoulders, became increasingly sophisticated to the point where an observer couldn’t tell if the sword was making him move, or he was the one moving. Only a genius could have grasped such concepts this quickly. In his S.E.A.L. training, he was the one his instructors were most expectant of. He passed all the rigorous training with strength and motivation to spare. He was always the top contributor to any engagements with the Taliban that had found a new leader, and was resurging. Yet all of his toils, and prior achievements were irrelevant in this place. Indeed, it only served as a foundation for his current growth, that granted him at least the ability to survive in this hellish environment.

To attack or defend, Jeremy was deciding which course was best. If he launched an attack now, he would gain the initiative, and dominate for a while before he was flanked and surrounded and killed; if he held his ground with his back against the water, he could hold them off for longer yet the beach here was too open. He could retreat, but the sand would impede his flight. Jeremy checked the weapons pointed at him with menace and malice, no spears or bows. An idea formulated in his mind: he could fight to reduce the numbers and swim away. He was confident he could outswim anything present, even with his heavy sword. There was also one move he had to try. Often in his fight for survival he felt that somehow sometimes the distance between his sword and the enemies’ flesh did not meet, yet he still could cut it. He could try it, maybe he would look like an utter fool waving his sword around, but the sensations he felt when fighting were real. He decided to try it, as the large red skinned beasts shot forward, he sunk into a drawing stance.

With his right hand on the hilt of his sword, he gathered up all his thoughts and imagined in his mind a ranged strike. He could sense an energy surrounding his sheath and sword, maybe he wasn’t a fool to conjure up such ridiculous notions. It was if the sword was responding to his will. His thumb pushed the blade out, and in a smooth motion his arm shot forward in a straight line as the sword clutched in his hand swung from left to right. Jeremy yelped in surprise as a black energy flew off the edge. It was the shape of a thin crescent moon, the creatures charging towards him faltered as the energy hit them. Black blood began squirting from their chest. Three of the closest ones died instantly cleaved in two; however, he could feel the sensation of his energy tearing flesh, and he realized they were more resilient than other creatures he had killed so far. The remaining ones pounded their feet on the sand regaining their posture and continued the charge. There speed was shocking despite their three-meter height, and wide sturdy stocky bodies. Within the time to take a breath, they were within the range of his deadly two-meter blade.

Like a lone rock on the shores pressing back against the waves assaulting it, Jeremy leaned forward swinging his sword up to his ear clenching it tightly with both hands, a grimace on his face as he clenched his teeth. Then he rushed forward, and as his body was thrown in the air by his force Jeremy rotated his arms and cut from top right to bottom left at the fleetest of the remaining ogres. Its red chest split open, black blood sprayed on Jeremy’s tanned face, it collapsed as its guts poured on the ground. ‘These things are tough. Normally that attack splits them in two’, he thought as he recalled his previous encounters with the beasts of the field that lusted for his flesh. A club flew in from the left to break his neck. Jeremy brought his sword up to deflect the blow. The sound of the impact was so loud that Jeremy’s ears were ringing. He successfully parried, but even though his sword absorbed the impact, his hands were tingling from the vibration. In a similar trajectory he brought his sword down again and cut the monster down.

Four left. The ogres had retreated, and spread out to assault him from all sides. Jeremy knew he couldn’t stay still, he couldn’t just react to their movements, to survive he knew he needed to act first so they would have to react to him instead. He charged at the nearest monster, impaling him with his two-meter sword, twisted the handle then withdrew it so fast the only evidence left was the gaping hole in its chest. He sensed danger behind him and spun just as another club grazed his shoulder, breaking his skin. Jeremy felt the warmth of his blood trickle down his waist soaking his shirt. He should have grabbed armor at the armory five days ago, but he had wanted nothing to do with that terrible tool, the wand that contained a malice unfathomable, and he left promptly.

Three left. They were now standing off waiting for the other to act. Jeremy could see a frenzy in their eyes as they sniffed the air and licked their lips. His shoulder was hot from the pain. ‘Even a graze hurts this much’, Jeremy thought but he launched an assault against all three now in front of him. His blade was keen, and his eyes sharp as he performed intricate steps, to unleash a fury that pushed back the ogres. One had momentarily lost his left grip on his club. Jeremy immediately targeted it with an upward almost vertical stroke from low left to high right.

Two left. The ogres lost their apprehensiveness and shot forward like beasts cornered sensing their own deadly demise. Their distance was far enough for Jeremy to react in time. He swept his blade. Jeremy could feel the blade passing through the flesh of the two, and their upper bodies leaned behind them falling due to their own weight, as viscera poured out from their waists.

“Huff, Huff”, Jeremy was panting, his body was screaming to stop.

He looked at the remaing twelve goblins, and a new figure. Dressed in black robes with a dirtied purple lining. Instead of a face there was a skull, and instead of hands there were only the claw-like finger bones. What was more disturbing was the black fire where the eye sockets were. It was a lich. ‘What is this? Isn’t this thing like a boss monster or some shit like that!’, Jeremy thought, his worry rising like a balloon. Unlike all the previous encounters, this time the goblins waited, they didn’t rush out right away to partake in a bloody feast. They abode. The lich just stared expressionless, a frightening aura coming from it.

Jeremy looked behind him at the water, now he wasn’t on the beach any longer the battle had transported him to a short overhang above the water. Without a thought, sheathing his sword, purely acting on instinct, he dove into the water. He was a strong swimmer and the heavy sword was nothing compared to the load he had to carry while swimming during his training. He let the weight of the sword drag him down to the floor. That is when he saw it: a stone against the overhang with a gap behind. Even though he was standing, the mirky water was over his head, he trudged along and entered a cave.

One minute. For one minute Jeremy had been underwater.

He was struggling to make it through the gap; he could hold his breath for two minutes. Time was not as forgiving, with his movement delayed by the water, the inches he needed to move seemed like a thousand miles. It might as well be on the other side of the world, still he perservered. He unsheathed his swordand by articulating his body he squeezed through with his lungs about to burst.

“Puahh!”, Jeremy’s head broke through the water as he finally could take a breath. It was dark, unpleasant with oozy smells. It was so large he was surprised that the ground on top, which he was fighting on didn’t collapse. He strove in deeper and deeper.

In the pitch-black cavern, he heard a voice, “I hath been waiting for you. I know of the burden which you bear”.