"Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options"
Simon Sinek, English-American Author
“Milly, now is not the time to hold back!” Calista bellowed, bracing her shoulder against the shield as The Crushing Wave erupted out of the cave and headed straight for them at blinding speeds.
Milly brought forth her fire until it filled both her palms. Her hazel eyes filled with ember’s glow and she willed the flames to grow hotter. They shifted from blue to bright orange, and she stepped around the shield and hurled the flames forward at the creature’s charging form.
The flames struck the creature where its neck met the segmented legs, splashing across its body and leaving burns where it struck. The creature howled in rage and pain, but it continued hurtling forward without slowing.
“It’s not going to stop!” Milly warned, as the creature collided with the light shield.
Calista felt her arms grow numb from the impact. The light shield collapsed, and Milly and Calista were thrown backwards into the wall of air. The creature’s momentum halted, but the wooden shield Calista had once held now lay shattered on the ground at her feet.
“Damn you,” Calista swore, thrusting her rusted spear up into one of the creature’s segments from where she lay. It pierced its flesh, but the creature did not flinch. It lowered in gruesome head down towards Calista, eyes filled with menace, as if taunting them.
“Calista!” Milly shouted in a panic. She grabbed Calista by the waist and pulling her out of the way just as the creature’s forked appendage swung around and stabbed the ground where Calista once lay. Milly jumped to her feet, hauling Calista up with her. “Run!”
They ran as fast as their enhanced speed would take them, covering the distance of the clearing in a matter of seconds, pausing when they reached the sheer wall of stone.
“We can’t panic, Milly,” said Calista, more to herself than to Milly. Calista pulled two more spears from her inventory, one in each hand. “New plan. Stay back and hit it from a distance.”
They heard the rumble of the creature’s accelerating footsteps heading their direction, and Calista hurled the first spear as The Crushing Wave was halfway across the clearing. The spear stuck in its neck, piercing through one of its burns, but it continued forward unimpeded.
“Damn it,” Calista said frustrated, hurling the second spear as Milly let loose another blast of fire. Both struck home, and both failed to slow the creature’s movement.
“Move Calista,” Milly said, darting along the cliff towards the cave.
They weren't fast enough. The creature swung its body out as they moved, using its momentum to carry forward the forked appendage and striking both women just as they would have reached safety. They were knocked back hard, flying and landing with a sickening thud in front of the statues outside the cave. Milly heard a snap and she struggled to breathe.
“Shit. Calista, I think I broke a rib,” Milly said breathlessly as she got to her feet. She glanced over, and her heart sank.
Calista could not get up. Milly looked down at her and saw a deep slash across her stomach from one side to the other, the edges of the wound turning a sickly green.
“That… that’s not good,” Calista murmured, staring at the wound, her voice weak. Her head fell back to the ground as her chest began to spasm, as the sickly green of the wound began to seep into her blood.
“No. No, no no,” muttered Milly, kneeling with hands filled of blue healing magic. But the moment she touched Calista, she knew it would not cure the poison now moving through Calista’s body.
“No, please, god, no.” she pleaded. “Stay with me, Calista! I can’t lose you.”
The last sentence came out as a pained whisper that spoke of a truth she had yet to admit to herself.
The Crushing Wave turned towards them and started resuming its charge, pincers ready for its meal.
Milly made a quick decision. She stood, flailing her arms as she shuffled away from Calista’s spasming body. Fire roared in her hands, growing hotter and hotter until Milly could no longer stand the heat. She threw it at the centipede, striking it in its side. Three of its legs melted away, and the scream that echoed from the creature’s maw rattled off the mountaintops.
“Over here, fucker. Here! Here!” Milly challenged, readying herself for its charge. She prayed that it would take the bait, so she could draw it away from Calista.
It worked. The creature shifted its charge just as it was about to crush Calista, its legs narrowly missing her prone form as they stabbed into the ground.
Milly tried not to panic. She held her ground and looking for something, anything, to get them out of this situation.
The creature headed straight for her, its mass carving a path of destruction though the clearing.
Milly saw it, twenty feet above the clearing resting precariously on the mountain’s edge. A boulder the size of a car, held in place by a narrow lip of stone on a ledge above her.
Milly pushed off the ground hard, jumping sideways out of the creature’s path, barely dodging the swing of its forked tail.
Run, Milly. Don’t think about how close that was. Just run!
She let her instincts guide her as she ran straight for the steep cliff that rose above the clearing. The Crushing Wave turned and barreled forward towards her at full speed, maw open to snatch her as she ran.
“Please, let this work,” Milly whispered.
As she reached the wall of stone, Milly turned towards the creature and pressed her palms to the ground. She channeled as much fire as she could handle, and a flood of flames roared across the surface of the clearing, a foot tall and ten feet long and burning everything in its path. The creature struck the flames, unable to slow down, and it shrieked in pain as the tips of its feet burned one by one.
Milly had no time to celebrate. She looked up at the boulder high above but knew in an instant that her magic would not reach it. “I need to get closer.”
Milly pressed her hands against the rock face. She closed her eyes and focused, quelling the fire within her and bringing forth her new earth magic. There had been precious little time to practice with it, but this needed to work.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
It must work. I won't let it hurt Calista.
Her fingers sunk into the earth, knuckle deep, and she suppressed her cry of surprise. The earth felt cool against her fingers, firm yet malleable. There was a comfort to it that she had not expected, but she had not time to dwell. She started climbing, one hand over the other, sinking just enough into the stony wall to allow her and her elevated strength to lift her up.
“Come on! I’m so close! Keep going!”
The Crushing Wave broke through the flames and rose up to its full height, front legs flailing in the air, charred and smoking. It leaned its maw up skyward at the morsel scaling the wall, nearly within its grasp.
Milly pulled herself up once more, and could sense the ledge above through her fingers imbedded within the wall. She was within range.
As the creature’s fangs came within inches of her, Milly planted her feet against the stone and kicked hard, flipping over the snapping maw of the creature. She reached out her arms, channeling earth through one and fire through the other, targeting the stone that held the boulder in place. “Please… please work,” she prayed.
The stone began to glow, faintly at first but brighter with each heartbeats. The rock began to bend, then flow, and the stone melted into glowing magma.
The creature shrieked in frustration as Milly sailed over it, but with burned feet it was unable to stop its momentum before it slammed into the wall of stone. The lava gave way, collapsing down the side of the wall and plummeting onto the creature’s head. For a moment it cried out in pain, until the boulder was dislodged from the mountainside and plummeted onto the creature's head. It ended the creature’s howls of pain and rage in an instant as its body was crushed beneath its mass.
Milly struck the ground hard on her back and she felt more ribs crack. She gasped in pain as she struggled to breathe. She lifted her hand to her head, staring in alarm when she drew it back and saw it covered in blood.
Utter silence fell across the clearing.
She gave herself two painful breaths before she rolled to her side and pushed herself slowly to her feet, head fuzzy and struggling to stay conscious. The only movement from The Crushing Wave were the spasms of its scorched legs as death claimed it.
Milly spared it only a fleeting glance, hobbling over to Calista, her eyes wide open in fear as Calista’s chest spasmed uncontrollably.
“Mil…ly…” was all Calista managed to say before the poison reached her limbs and spasming encompassed her whole body.
Milly channeled the last of her magic into trying to heal the wound, but it was no use against the poison.
“It…it doesn’t work on poisons, Calista. I don’t know what to do.” Milly was panicking now, desperately searching for any way to save her.
Calista used every ounce of energy she had left to point a spasming finger at the creature. “Ra…in.” she whispered, struggling to speak even the single word. Her breath started to become ragged, and her eyes rolled back in her head.
“Rain?” Milly asked, and she understood. “Rain! I understand!”
Milly forced herself to her feet, limping over to the creature’s forked appendage. She opened her inventory and pulled out a rusted sword that had seen better days. She lifted the sword with what might she could muster and severed the tip of the appendage. A second swing took a chunk of leg, and a third part of the creature’s body. She moved to its head and collected a pincer. She knelt and scooped a handful of teeth scattered across the ground that the boulder had dislodged. She stashed every body part in her inventory, hoping there was something Rain could use to brew a cure.
Only Rain was two hours away, the Castle of Glass long hidden behind the mountains and dense pine forest. Her heart dropped. She collapsed to the ground, hopeless and afraid.
The battle victory message flashed in her sight, and it opened unbidden.
Congratulations!
You have defeated The Crushing Wave
You have gained 12-hour access to The Arena of Choice
You have been awarded 800 experience points.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You have gained six attribute points and one talent point.
Item: Collar of the Victor
Item: Waypoint Crystal
Gold: 300
Was the AI Director feeling generous? Is it throwing me a bone?
Milly quickly allocated two points to toughness and four points to magic as she fumbled through her inventory, pulling out the collar and the crystal and laying them on the ground before her. The toughness dulled the pain slightly, and she felt the magic inside her refill a small amount as the increase took hold.
She focused on the items, and descriptions popped up.
Collar of the Victor
Nothing shackles a player like endless victory.
Benefit: +4 Strength, +4 Toughness
The collar was in the shape of a centipede, round body stretching around her neck, with legs forming decorative lines above and below. The buckle was the fanged head, pincers locking it in place. Milly put on the collar without hesitation, feeling the increased toughness further dulling her pain.
“Now the second one,” Milly whispered, crossing her fingers. She read it and hope flared to life.
Waypoint Crystal
Single Use Item.
Why walk when you can warp?
Benefit: Transports your party to a previously explored location
Hephaestus, the world is very large. The gods will grow bored with watching players walk everywhere. Added Waypoint Crystals to keep Contest flowing. – Oracle
The note was not part of the item’s description. It appeared through her Spectacles of Hidden Design, wavy words written below the standard description. Milly did not spare a moment to think about the implications. She grabbed the Waypoint Crystal, cradling its blue, diamond-shaped form in the palm of her hand as if it was the most precious thing in that world, and staggered over to where Calista lay.
“Hang on, Calista. Please hang on,” she begged. She embraced Calista in the tightest hug she had ever given, and shattered the crystal between thumb and finger.
“Rain On My Parade,” she shouted.
Milly was pulled into a kaleidoscope tunnel, clutching Calista for dear life, as she tried not to scream.
Mildred Persephone Brown
Player
Level: 15
Specialty: Survival
Strength:
Base: 8
Enhanced: 16 (+4 from Wedding Ring of Phillip the Ogre, +4 from Collar of the Victor)
Agility:
Base: 10
Enhanced: 15 (+5 from Gown of Moon and Stars)
Toughness:
Base: 12
Enhanced: (+4 from Collar of the Victor)
Magic:
Base: 18
Enhanced: 25 (+5 from Gown of Moon and Stars, +2 from Milly's First Witch's Hat)
Talents:
Healing Magic - Healer's Touch
Elemental Magic - Fire Magic (Beginner), Earth Magic (Beginner)
Necromancy - Reanimate Rodent (Witch's Hat)
Talent point available
Calista Gale
Player
Level: 12
Specialty: Hunting, Mean Girl
Strength:
Base: 12
Enhanced: 12
Agility:
Base: 12
Enhanced: 12
Toughness:
Base: 8
Enhanced: 8
Magic:
Base: 4
Enhanced: 8 (+4 from Huntress' Scrunchy)
6 unassigned attribute points available
Talents:
Shield - Protective Shield (beginner)
Combat - Spear Specialist (beginner)
Exploration - Improved Perception (from Huntress' Scrunchy, improves five senses)
1 unassigned talent
Rain Desjarlais
Player
Level: 8
Specialty: Brewing, Experimentation
Strength:
Base: 8
Enhanced: 8
Agility:
Base: 8
Enhanced: 8
Toughness:
Base: 15
Enhanced: 15
Magic:
Base: 8
Enhanced: 8
Talents:
Combat - Dagger Specialist (Beginner)
Alchemy - Nature's Bounty, Alchemy (Beginner)